Help! We're Not Human!
by LuluCalliope
Summary: Two fangirls are sucked into a world by the ocean off the coast of Australia. There one learns to survive and become an ally of the sea while the other loses her independence and struggles to regain it while healing emotional wounds. Follows movie plot, but crosses over with A Fish Tale towards the end. GillxOC and NigelxOC. Rating may change. Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: For those of you who are not familiar with the Danish/English film "Help! I'm a Fish!" or "A Fish Tale"…you might want to watch one or two scenes from it. It'll make more sense as the story progresses. But even if you don't, you should be able to follow along okay. Also, for those of you who have read my Roger Rabbit story…yes, I will continue that in the future, don't worry. Now…on with this one! And have a happy 12/12/12!**

Chapter One

The doorbell rang and Lulu opened the door. She was swept into a hug by one of her best friends, Alicia. "Oh, my God, I haven't seen you in FOREVER!" Lulu gushed.

"I know, right?" Alicia grinned. "I've missed you so much!" Lulu laughed.

"Come on, I've got the movie set up in the basement! We're gonna watch Finding Nemo after we watch A Fish Tale!" She pulled her friend through her house. The two almost looked like sisters: both had brown hair, brown eyes, and a love for animated movies. They walked down into the basement and sat down in front of the TV with bowls of popcorn and sugary drinks. This was Lulu's idea of Heaven.

"By the way, thanks again for introducing me to this movie," Lulu giggled as she popped in A Fish Tale. She had _finally_ managed to convince her parents to buy her the Danish animated movie, and she couldn't stop watching it over and over again. She sighed dreamily a few minutes into the movie when a pilot fish and a shark appeared on screen. Alicia glanced at her.

"Who are you looking at?"

"Him," she replied, pointing at the pilot fish, Joe. "I love him." Alicia smirked.

"It sounds like Gill's got competition," she teased, referring to Lulu's fish crush from Finding Nemo, the Moorish idol that was the leader of the Tank Gang. Lulu blushed.

"Okay…number one…he's voiced by Wilhelm Dafoe," she swooned, launching into her typical fan-girl mode. Normally she didn't like the actor who had played the Green Goblin in the Spider-Man trilogy, but for Gill, she was willing to make an exception. "Number two…he's stoic, and I love stoic. Three…he'd be GREAT with kids!"

"Unlike Joe," Alicia muttered, and Lulu scowled mockingly at her.

"Hey…Joe had his moments. And he's voiced by Alan Rickman! Anyway, at least I'm not the one in love with icky, diseased birds!"

"Nigel is NOT diseased!" Alicia insisted, stiffening as Lulu mentioned the pelican that she was particularly fond of. "He is super cute and super nice…and funny and brave!"

"Yeah, you're right," Lulu admitted, then smiled. "I once read that pelicans have, like, three babies at a time. Nigel would be great with them."

"I know! You know, I always felt kind of bad for him at the end of the movie."

"Really, why?" Lulu asked, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Well, he returns Marlin and Dory to the ocean, and then flies away thinking that Nemo died…and he never really finds out that he survived, did he? Also, after the Tank Gang escaped to the ocean, he was all alone!" Alicia pointed out.

"He had the other pelicans," Lulu reminded her, but even she knew that this wasn't quite the same. Alicia shrugged.

"Anyway, would you want to have kids with Gill or Joe?"

"Totally," Lulu said at once. "And guess what? Apparently Moorish idols and pilot fish have the same breeding…style pattern thingies…and they reproduce the same way! Isn't that cool?"

"Depends on how they reproduce," Alicia yawned, unrolling her sleeping bag.

"They release their sperm and eggs into the water at the same time, and then the eggs drift away and if they aren't eaten by predators, they hatch and become baby fish!" Lulu explained in one breath. Alicia shot her a weird look, and Lulu huffed. "I think it's cool," she said haughtily, pretending to be offended. Alicia giggled.

"Anyway, you promised that we could go swimming tomorrow. Do you think we can do that?" Lulu lived across the street from the neighborhood pool, which was Olympic size, heated, and had two water slides.

"Sure," Lulu agreed. "I love the pool! But let's finish watching the movie first!"

They fell asleep after Joe died onscreen and his corpse drifted away in the water. For Lulu, the movie was boring without a hot villain.

* * *

"Behold the greatest pool ever!" Lulu bragged when they arrived at the vacant neighborhood club the next morning.

"Cool! Next I'll take a yacht, some helicopter lessons, a pet cheetah…you want me to be happy, don't you?" Alicia joked, quoting the Internet personality known as the Nostalgia Chick.

"Come on, let's get in!" Lulu said, pulling her friend towards the pool.

"Um, can I put on sunscreen first?" Alicia asked playfully. "You go ahead. I'll be in the pool in a second." Lulu had executed a perfect dive into the water before she had finished the sentence.

"Wow, this is a lot bigger than I remembered it!" Lulu thought to herself as she swam around. She had been practicing her breast stroke for a few minutes when she realized something was wrong. She had been holding in her breath for a really long time, but she didn't feel exhausted and her lungs weren't burning. Second of all, she couldn't see the bottom of the pool anymore! Had she wandered into the deep end by mistake? And third…the water tasted weird, and she didn't seem to mind it. She decided to swim to the surface for a closer look…Alicia would help her get a reality check, and maybe they'd just avoid the water and tan for a while before heading back to the house and watching episodes of Inuyasha. (Lulu made a mental note to stalk Netflix's employees until they added the complete series to Instant Watch.)

But when she reached the surface, only MORE things were wrong. First…she was by a fishing dock. There weren't any places like that by her house, and not any by the pool. Second, Alicia was missing. And third, she couldn't see the tops of her neighbors' houses! She glanced down at her reflection in the water, did a double-take, and flipped out.

"Holy cow, I'm a fish!"

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_And no, I don't live across the street from a heated swimming pool with two water slides…I wish I did. (And as long as I'm dreaming, I'd like a pony.)_

_I'll update tomorrow, I promise! And there will be better, longer chapters ahead! Get ready to be excited people, because I am on a roll!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Alicia—Now, where are you during all of this? Here you are!**

**Princess LaLaBlue—Hello! I know, exams SUCK, but it'll be over soon!**

**greatbigsealover44—I know, right? They're my favorite characters, too!**

**Hearts Aglow-She's doing better. I think that a break is what we both need at the moment, and then everything will be back to normal. Thanks for the support!**

Chapter Two

"Ouch," Alicia muttered, sitting up. "Did I hit my head and pass out or something?" She couldn't remember what had happened…one minute she was standing by the pool, getting ready to jump in the water, and the next…nothing. She had blacked out, and was woken up by the sound of birds. "Those are seagulls…are there seagulls in the winter?" She wondered. "I don't think so." She turned her attention to the pool…only to find that it had vanished into thin air! "What the heck is going on here? Is this…the ocean?" She was standing on a dock of some sort. She peered down into the water…and saw the face of a fish pop up to stare at her.

"Wow, Alicia, look at you! You're a bird!" Lulu said in amazement.

"Look at you! You're a…a fish! You're a…what was Gill again?"

"He was a Moorish idol," Lulu said, gazing at her reflection in the water. She looked almost identical to Gill, except she had a lighter coloring, softer features, and a smaller body.

"Okay, so this is one of those days," Alicia stated, looking at her new image in the water. What she was referring to were the many times that she, Lulu, and their friend Jenna had been transported into another world…most of which had to do with their favorite animated movies, like Aladdin and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Most of these adventures turned out to be pretty cool, but they were always a pain in the butt at the beginning, when they were dealing with their new surroundings. "And I'm not just a bird…I'm a pelican, like Nigel," she corrected, ruffling her feathers primly.

"Okay…so we're a pelican and a Moorish idol…where are we, exactly?" They glanced around, and their eyes bugged out of their heads when they read a sign that screamed SYDNEY at them. A lot of the boats passing by had SYDNEY written on them, too. "We're in Australia?" Alicia asked in disbelief.

"My dad's done work here, but I've never actually been," Lulu admitted, sinking deeper into the water. "I'm not sure how to feel about being on the other side of the world."

"Anyway, what are we going to do? I can't go underwater with you, and you'll die if you stay up here!" Alicia complained, a worried look on her face. "Also, I don't know what pelicans eat exactly, but I'm pretty sure that we're not vegetarians."

"Don't worry," Lulu said calmly. "Remember, Nigel ate a crab in the movie. So…you can eat those! Or…stupid fish that bother you, I don't know. Just don't eat me."

"I won't," Alicia laughed, but then grew quiet again. "What are you going to do for food?"

"Um…I know that my kind of food usually lives on the bottom of the ocean. I'm going to swim a little further away from here and see if I can find anything. If we don't meet up here in three days, that means that something bad has happened to one of us," Lulu said, being half-serious and half-joking.

"You sure you'll be okay?" Alicia asked, taking a tentative step away from the water.

"I'll be okay, and you definitely will be. Who knows? You might run into a certain brown pelican by the name of Nigel," Lulu teased. She had swum away before Alicia could give her witty retort.

"And Nigel didn't eat the crab in the movie…he didn't get a chance to. Those stupid seagulls were bothering him. Hey, maybe I can eat them," Alicia chuckled as she stretched her wings and awkwardly flew away.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_I just watched A Fish Tale…do you hear something? That's the sound of NEW IDEAS…and oh, I will be using them ALL…or the good ones, anyway. The story is just getting started. New chapter tomorrow, I promise. I know that this is short…but tomorrow there will be an extra long chapter, I promise! (All right, enough with the promising. I must get to updating, I must…)_


	3. Chapter 3

**Alicia—I know! Well, remember that it took me a while to get used to it, at least in the Roger Rabbit story. And I know I promised two chapters today, but I'm kind of pressed for time. (That and I got hooked on Inuyasha again.)**

**RatchetsGirl—I'm glad you think so, and I hope you keep reading!**

**greatbigsealover44—I had to look it up to find out what kind of fish he was, too. Thanks for reviewing!**

Chapter Three

Alicia had only been joking about eating seagulls, but she wasn't too thrilled about eating crabs, either. After all, they had feelings, too! At least the dumb seagulls had no brains and only felt two things: hunger and greed. Oh, and there was the need to constantly annoy others. And who could forget—

"Ouch!" She yelped as she collided with something in the air. It was another pelican, one that fell out of the air with her. They crashed into the dock below them, using their faces to break the fall. "Ouch," Alicia repeated, wincing from the pain. She looked up and stared at the other bird apologetically. "Sorry! I didn't see you!"

"Yeah, well, maybe you ought to watch where you're going next time," he muttered a bit coolly, shaking off the pain in his head. Alicia blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry! I'm kind of in a hurry," she lied quickly, suddenly recognizing the pelican talking. But as he got shakily to his feet, his cold glare softened, and he smiled at her.

"Me too! Sorry if I snapped at you," the pelican said with a happy wink. "I'm Nigel, by the way."

"Alicia," she replied, awkwardly shaking his wing. "So…where were you going in such a hurry?"

"On my way to this dentist's office," he laughed. "I'm meeting up with some friends there. You should come; I think you'd like it. Just, uh…watch it when the dentist sees you. He's got a real racket going, but then again, my friends can't choose their owners, can they?"

"They're pets?" She asked as they started to fly away, this time together.

"Just about," he chuckled. "But this one and I go way back. I think you'll like him, even though he isn't exactly the life of the party."

* * *

Lulu had been swimming around for what felt like days, even though she knew it had only been a couple of hours. Her stomach was grumbling, and she knew that if she was going to eat, it had to be soon. She wondered what Moorish idols ate…was she technically a bottom feeder now? Gross! These thoughts were interrupted when she came into contact with a school of silver fish and swam up to them quickly.

"Um, excuse me, I think I'm lost. Can you please help me? I need a place to stay."

"Sure thing," the group replied in a single voice. "Just continue to go west, away from the current, and there's a small zone nearby that's got plenty of room for newcomers. You'll fit right in."

"Thank you so much!" Lulu cried happily, dashing away and towards the underwater civilization, unaware of the familiar faces that she would encounter along the way.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_I've been watching A Fish Tale so many times…when we get to those parts of the story, it will be AWESOME…but there will be awesome stuff in the next chapter with Alicia and Nigel, I promise! Oh, out of curiosity…how many of you have seen A Fish Tale? (It's also known as Help! I'm a Fish!)_

_Anyway, this is another short chapter…tomorrow I'm making up for it with Alicia's introduction to the Tank Gang and my introduction to Mr. Ray (I think)…_


	4. Chapter 4

**Princess LaLaBlue—I strongly recommend seeing A Fish Tale. It's got Alan Rickman in it, who I LOVE! Netflix has a copy of it, if you're interested. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, and I hope you keep enjoying it!**

**greatbigsealover44—I worked very hard on it, and I'm so glad you enjoy it! Quick question…have you seen A Fish Tale?**

**Alicia—Guess what I almost referenced in this chapter? I couldn't bring myself to write the actual word down, so I had to come up with a child-friendly insult!**

Chapter Four

Alicia followed Nigel to a large building that had a window view of the docks and the ocean. One window was open, and Nigel and Alicia perched on the ledge outside and gazed inside. Alicia's nose wrinkled in disdain…she wasn't a big fan of doctors of any kind or of their offices. This was a dentist's office. Everything was totally white. The only splashes of color came from a fish tank that was vibrant with life. A starfish that had grabbed onto the wall of the tank saw Nigel and grinned. "Hey, everyone, look who's here," he called out. "And he brought a friend!"

"Good morning, Peach!" Nigel smiled. "This is Alicia. She's new here."

"How'd you know that?" Alicia asked him, her eyes widening in surprise. She hadn't told him that she was new to Sydney…or Australia, for that matter.

"Old instinct," he shrugged. "Don't know where I get it from, honestly." He turned back to Peach. "Anyway, where's Doctor Fa—I mean, where's Doctor FFH?"

"FFH?" Alicia wondered.

"Foul Fowl Hater," Nigel explained, and Alicia cracked up.

"I think that he told the secretary that he's going out scuba diving. He won't be in for the rest of the morning."

"And you'll be gone before then, right Nigel?" A pretty blue fish hinted, her voice laced with concern as she swam up to join them.

"We'll be fine, won't we Alicia?" Nigel laughed. "That old-timer won't catch us."

"Hi, I'm Deb!" The blue fish giggled, hovering in the water. "And this is my sister, Flo!" She pointed a fin straight ahead at her reflection, and Alicia blinked once and nodded in recognition, remembering that Deb thought her reflection was another fish.

"Where is everyone else?" Nigel asked, peering inside. "I hoped that Gill would be up. Is it still too early?"

"I think it is," Peach admitted. "Why don't you drop by later and chat?"

"Won't we get in trouble?" Alicia brought up. "What if the dentist sees us."

"You should totally meet the guy," Nigel said sarcastically. "Just so you can hear him talk to me. _'Hey, what have I told you before? They're not your fish! They're MY fish, got it? Get out! Shoo! Go on before I call animal control!_'" Alicia laughed so hard that she nearly lost her balance and fell off of the window sill.

"Well, okay then," she said as soon as she could breathe again. "I guess so. That is, if you don't mind my tagging along," she said shyly, looking at Nigel.

"Not at all," he said earnestly. "I'd like the company. And like I said, you need to meet the others and see the dumb dentist bloke. In the meantime, want a tour of the place? There are some sights that you should check out!"

"I'd love one," she said happily, and Nigel looked at Peach and Deb (and Flo). "See you all later, okay?"

"Sure thing, Alicia."

"Talk to you later."

"They're really nice, aren't they?" Alicia said to Nigel as they flew away. "How'd you meet up with them?"

"Well, like I may have said earlier, Gill was the first one of the gang that I met, and he introduced me to the others. He may not seem like the nicest guy to chat with, but he's a total softie. Just, uh, don't ask him about how he got his scar. He usually doesn't like bringing that up."

"Sure thing," Alicia said, mentally making a note of everything Nigel told her. "So, what's the first stop on our tour?"

"Well, this place might not be much during the day, but at night in the middle of the ocean, it's really something to see." Nigel tilted his head to the side. "Are you…you don't have any other plans for tonight, do you? Because if you don't, I know a great place to catch some delicious fish and really see the great spots out in the open—"

"I'd love to," she answered, pleased by the invitation. "But first, can we go look around the docks and grab a bite to eat? I'm a little hungry."

"Me too," Nigel grinned as they continued to fly away.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_Good news, everyone! I'll be home from school early tomorrow, so you can expect an earlier update! But the bad news is…I have my toughest exams on Tuesday! Wish me luck!_


	5. Chapter 5

**I had my Spanish final today…two down, four to go. And I have the hardest ones tomorrow: Math and AP Macroeconomics. *gulps* Wish me luck! And in the meantime, for those of you who haven't seen A Fish Tale…here's a clip from the movie. I LOVE the villain. *sighs dreamily and begins drooling while fantasizing over the rest of the story* watch?v=giVEorC-NOc&noredirect=1**

**Also, I am so nervous right now, and not just because of the finals. I might…just might…be "hosting" my own web show where I review fan fiction. There will be more information later on. I'll let you know if I got the position, and if I didn't, well…I'll still be here!**

Chapter Five

There it was: after an eternity of searching, Lulu finally found what she was looking for. Civilization under the sea was not that much different from life on land, and she managed to navigate through the waters with relative ease. She eventually slowed down to admire the beauty of the area…it was gorgeous and colorful, and just so full of life. Fish of all types swam around her. But all at once, it suddenly seemed like too much, and she decided to try to find a quieter place. "Didn't those other fish say that this was a quiet zone?" She wondered. No, that wasn't true. They said that it was a small zone. And it wasn't exactly loud and crazy. It was very peaceful…wait…was that the sound of people shouting? What was going on over there? Frowning, she swam over to where the commotion was coming from. Two adult fish and a small group of juveniles were staring off of a drop off and into the open waters…at first, she couldn't see anything, but the kids seemed to be freaking out. She swam over to them. "What's wrong? What's going on?" She demanded.

"That kid's going to go touch the butt!" A blue fish with crooked teeth explained in a hoarse voice. "He's swimming out into the sea!" Lulu glanced up and saw that there was a BOAT less than a mile away from where they were currently watching. And there was a little kid clownfish swimming over to it at a rate that rivaled that of the speed of light.

"Nemo, get back here right now!" The father clownfish was yelling, not daring to move from his spot next to a spotted eagle ray.

"I'll go talk to him," Lulu shouted, sprinting after him, much to the surprise of everyone else present. When she finally caught up with the young clownfish, she began to panic just a little bit by looking at his face. "Nemo, listen to me! Boats are dangerous! You could get killed!" Lulu's family had a bad history with boats, and she was still a little freaked out by them. But Nemo ignored her and the protests of his father as he smacked his normal fin—he had one that was slightly smaller than the other—against the boat, a defiant glare set on his face.

"Are you happy now? Come on! We're going back to the drop-off NOW!" Lulu ordered in a surprisingly grown-up voice, leading the culprit back to his father.

"You're in very big trouble, young man!" The adult clownfish was yelling at the tops of his gills, but Lulu was busy nagging the little squirt, too.

"You almost gave them a heart attack! What you did wasn't just rude, it was dangerous! If you had gotten caught by humans, then we wouldn't have been able to help you!" She scolded…and then got the eerie feeling that she was being watched. She and Nemo turned around, their backs to the drop-off, and their eyes facing their own reflections. A scuba diver was staring directly at them, and in one hand, he held a small net that could hold a few fish, three at most.

"Daddy, help me!" Nemo screamed as he was tangled in the net.

"Oh, no," Lulu groaned as she also squirmed around in the net, trying to get away from the scuba diver's hand. "We're going on the butt—boat, I mean!"

"I don't want to!" Nemo gasped as humid air hit their faces when they emerged from the ocean water. Lulu held her breath for as long as she could while she waited for them to be placed in water again, and eventually, the cool taste of saltiness reached their mouths, and they could breathe again.

"Nemo, Nemo calm down! It's okay! We're going to be okay! Stop panicking! Okay? Calm down!" Lulu wasn't sure if she was talking to the clownfish or to herself now. All of her time as a fish had been spent in open waters, and it was a totally new experience to find herself confined in a small area with barely enough water to breathe in. After the two of them thrashed around in the water for a while, they both blacked out.

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_Review, please! :)_


	6. Chapter 6

**SUCK IT, exams! I've defeated you! And also, I am now an official fan fiction critic! I'll post more details at the end of the next chapter! But as a special treat…TWO chapters tomorrow!**

**Hearts Aglow—I know! Your comment made me laugh, by the way. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Princess LaLaBlue—Alan is so hot in that movie…it's a shame that the full movie isn't on YouTube. But yes, Joe and a few of the other characters from that scene will be making an appearance later in this story. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Alicia—I got the job! *parties* I hope you like this chapter!**

**gogo2625—I'm glad that you're enjoying it! Thanks for reviewing! And yes, I try to update at least once a day…but tomorrow there will be two updates.**

**greatbigsealover44—You definitely should! It's very underrated, but very cool!**

Chapter Six

When Nemo and Lulu finally came to, it was when they made contact with water again. "Daddy," Nemo kept whimpering as he quivered. Lulu only gaped around at their new surroundings. It seemed to have a Hawaiian theme. Nemo dashed around in hysterics, bashing his head into invisible force fields from every direction. Only after a few minutes of this did they realize that they were in a fish tank...they were prisoners of the humans! This was so overwhelming for Nemo, who had been through so much in one day. He swam backwards and knocked open the lid of a small toy treasure chest, which released several bubbles that floated up to the top of the tank.

"BUBBLES, BUBBLES, BUBBLES, BUBBLES, BUBBLES…" A large yellow fish appeared out of nowhere and charged towards Nemo and the chest of escaping bubbles. "My bubbles," the yellow fish explained, hugging the chest in a protective way.

"Okay then," Lulu whispered, backing away and backing into the tank wall, where she almost collided with a pink starfish.

"He likes bubbles," the starfish explained in a flat voice. Nemo shrieked and swam around, all the while running into new fish.

"Whoa, easy there, kiddo," a large puffer fish laughed, slowing Nemo down with his fin. "Take it easy."

"I want to go home," Nemo whimpered. "Where's my dad?"

"Sweetie, your father's probably back at the pet store," the starfish said gently.

"But we didn't come from the pet store!" Lulu protested. "We came from the ocean!"

"You're covered in OCEAN GERMS!" A purple fish freaked out. "Jacques! They need to be decontaminated!"

"Oui," a shrimp nodded in agreement, appearing out of nowhere. He turned Nemo and Lulu around in the water a few times, running his whiskery things over their scales.

"Voila, they are clean!" The shrimp announced before retiring to his helmet…house…thing.

"Don't mind Gurgle," the blue fish scoffed. "But hey, if there's anything you need, just ask Deb, that's me! And if I'm not around, just ask my sister, Flo!" She swam up to the tank wall and smiled at her reflection. "Hi, how are you, Flo?"

The pink starfish mumbled something. "Can't hear you, Peach," the puffer fish called up. The response back could be heard, but Nemo and Lulu barely understood what was going on or what they were talking about. But apparently Gurgle and the puffer fish did, because they got into a huge argument that ended with the puffer fish swelling up like a balloon and drifting away from the group.

"I'll go deflate Bloat," Deb groaned, swimming away.

Eventually two pelicans fluttered up by the window. The fish recognized them, and Lulu knew them all right: she had been talking to Alicia less that forty-eight hours ago!

"Hello," Nigel smiled at Lulu and Nemo. Nemo tried to hide, but the others kept their cool around the birds.

"New guy and girl," Deb explained laughingly.

"Sorry if I ever took a snap at you," Nigel grinned. "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta eat."

While he talked with the Tank Gang, Alicia and Lulu managed to catch up on everything that had happened since their transformations. "I guess that we're not meeting in the docks anytime soon," Lulu joked. "Still, this is pretty cool, I guess," she added, swimming in a perfect figure eight.

"It's definitely better than the 'date' we had last night," Alicia muttered. Nigel's tour had been ruined by some tagalong pelican named Gerald. He had just sat next to them by the ocean, being awkward the whole time. Alicia was ready to stick her head in the ocean and drown herself to be rid of all the tension. She and Nigel had flown away after a suspicious looking bubble reached the surface of the water and popped next to Gerald. She tried to fill her in on all the details, but the evil human dentist that Nigel had told her about spotted them.

"Hey! Shoo! They're not your fish, they're my fish! Go on! Go away! And take your friend with you!"

"See you later," Alicia cried out before they were pushed out the window. The dentist frowned when he saw that one of his precious picture frames had been cracked when Nigel accidentally pushed it over. He showed the photo in the frame to Nemo, talking to him about something before placing the photo closer to the tank. The fish stared at it with contempt.

"Darla," Bloat muttered in disgust.

"What's wrong with her?" Lulu wondered, swimming closer to the tank's wall to see well. Aside from her wearing head gear during the day, she didn't look too awful.

"She wouldn't stop shaking the bag," Gurgle recalled, and Lulu's eyes widened when she saw what it was that Darla was holding in her fist: a bag with a dead fish inside.

"Poor Chuckles," Bubbles said plaintively.

"He was her present last year!" Deb wailed.

"She's a fish killer!" Peach declared in a dramatic voice.

"I don't think you're helping at all," Lulu hissed as Nemo started to dart around in a panic.

"I can't go with that girl! I gotta go back to my dad!" He was pulled into a filter as he tried to escape, and he got stuck there, unable to move. "Daddy, help me!" The others, including Lulu, swam over to try to pull him out.

"Nobody touch him," a new voice ordered. This was another Moorish idol not too larger than Lulu. He looked a little bit older, though. "Nobody touch him," he repeated.

"Can you help me?" Nemo sniveled.

"No. You got yourself in, you can get yourself out," Gill coined.

"But, Gill—"Deb protested.

"I just want to see him do it, okay? Alternate wiggling your fins and your tail," he instructed.

"But I can't! I have a bad fin!"

"That didn't stop me," he scoffed, showing off a large scar on his fin. "Just think about what you have to do." Nemo closed his eyes in determination, following the directions given to him. And then…he wiggled free. "Perfect," Gill smiled.

And as they all cheered Nemo on, Lulu watched Gill out of the corner of her eye, liking the butterfly sensations she got in her stomach when she thought of his wry smile.

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_Review, please! :) _


	7. Chapter 7

**This is the season to bake cookies…with the grandkids of your grandparents' friends? What a weird day…I'm worn out, so there will only be one chapter today, sorry! (Also, the power went out at my house, making it really hard for me to write and use the Internet.) But there will be two chapters in the future, I promise! I won't say when, but I think you all can figure out the date! ;)**

**Hearts Aglow—I don't think that's corny at all (especially since I don't know what you're referencing, LOL).**

**Alicia-*inserts dreamy sigh here* I know! I love Gill! Sorry that you're not in this chapter, but I'll try to work you into the next one…it might be fluffy stuff with you and Nigel for a while, but you'll both play a huge part later.**

Chapter Seven

Nemo and Lulu had been fast asleep for quite some time when they both became aware of being hit with multiple pebbles. Lulu jerked awake right away and glared at the person who had tossed them up at them. It was Jacques. He muttered something in French to them, causing the two newcomers to stare at him blankly as he swam away. "Follow me," he translated when he returned to their side, and they complied.

"What's going on?" Nemo whispered as they swam through the tank.

"I have no idea," Lulu replied, growing anxious as the voices of ominous chants grew louder and clearer. They were led past the members of the Tank Gang…who were acting very creepy. They just stared at Lulu and Nemo as they repeated words from a language that they didn't understand. Was it Hawaiian?

"I suppose now they'll start singing He Mele no Lilo from Lilo and Stitch," she muttered to herself as they reached the top of a plastic volcano. All of the members of the Tank Gang were gathered there. Lulu turned to ask Jacques what in the hell was going on, but she was even more confused when she found that he had not accompanied them to the top. Where was he? What was going on here?

"State your names," Gill ordered softly.

"N-Nemo," the clownfish stammered.

"And Lulu," Lulu said, deciding to just let go of the real world she lived in and go along with whatever bizarre rituals they were about to take her through.

"Nemo and Lulu, newcomers of orange and white and black and white, you have been called forth to the summit of Mount Wanna-Hock-A-Loogie to join with us in the fraternal bonds of tankhood!" Bloat cried out in his deep voice.

"What?" Nemo asked.

"Speak English!" Lulu ordered.

"We want you two to join our club!" Peach explained.

"But first you must pass through THE RING OF FIRE!" Bloat's voice boomed out. There was a small moment of silence. He muttered through the corner of his mouth, "Turn on the Ring of Fire!"

"Oops, sorry," the shrimp said sheepishly, running around on a small wheel that sent bubbles flying out of the top of the volcano.

"Jacques, you said you would do it," Bloat scolded over the sounds of the chanting.

"You guys are seriously weirding me out," Lulu complained as they all started freaking out and crying like they were watching a horror movie when Nemo decided to swim through it. They congratulated him on his success, but when it looked like they were going to have another freak-out over her swimming through the ring, she slapped a fin to her face and moaned.

"You're all being totally dramatic. Get over it!" And with that, she swam through the Ring of Fire. She flashed a smug grin at Gill and the others, who all looked surprised that she had done it, too…and a little disappointed that she had done it before they could continue with their "sacred chanting".

"Is there a special handshake that comes with the club?" Lulu joked. A few of the others chuckled, but they snapped back into their serious business mode when Gill started talking to Nemo.

"From this moment on, you shall be known as Shark Bait!" Gill declared.

"Shark Bait, boo ha hah," the others chanted.

"Welcome, Brother Shark Bait!"

"Shark Bait, boo ha hah," the Tank Gang echoed.

"Okay, enough with the Shark Bait!"

"Shark Bait…blah blah blah," Gurgle muttered.

"Kid, you're going to help us with our new escape plan!" Gill explained excitedly, causing everyone else to let out a collective groan.

"Not ANOTHER escape plan," Gurgle moaned.

"They never work," Deb said gently. But Gill ignored her and the others.

"See that filter?"

"Yeah…"

"You're the only one small enough to fit inside that thing. All you have to do is swim inside, jam a pebble in the fan, and swim back out. Once you do that, this tank is going to keep getting filthier and filthier until the dentist will have no choice but to clean it himself. And then he'll put us in individual baggies. Then we roll across the counter, through the window, across the street, and into the ocean! Who's with me?"

"We are!" Bloat, Deb, Bubbles, and Peach chorused.

"I am!" Lulu added. She had to admit that as crazy as the plan was…it could work. They would just have to be extremely careful in executing each step.

"I think you're nuts!" Gurgle announced. "This seems ridiculous! It's never going to work!"

"It will work," Gill promised. "Now, let's get some rest. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow." The others nodded and swam away in separate directions. Nemo returned to the resting place from before, and Lulu planned to join him there later…but first she had something to ask Gill about. She followed him back to a toy skull that he used as a home.

"Hey, uh, Gill…I didn't get my special nickname," she reminded him.

"Oh, yeah, right," Gill said apologetically, then closing his eyes as he thought. He was quiet for a few minutes, but then his whole face lit up with a small smile. "I know!" Then he became all formal again, like he was acting back at the meeting. "Henceforth, you shall be known as Million Fish!"

"Million Fish…?" Lulu repeated, puzzled. "Um…okay! Why?"

"You're one in a million," he explained, the smile returning to his face once more before he swam inside the skull.

"Perfect," Lulu blushed. She floated outside of the skull for about five more minutes before joining Nemo in their sleeping place.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_


	8. Chapter 8

**I didn't update yesterday for two reasons: one, I felt like an update was unnecessary, what with the end of the world and everything. And two…a lot of depressing shit happened. My grandparents had to put their dog down, I had a fight with my dad again, we saw a depressing movie, and everything else.**

**Alicia—I won't let the world end until we go to Disney World together! *shakes you by the shoulders* DO YOU UNDERSTAND? Good…now, enjoy the chapter!**

**Hearts Aglow—LOL! I should check it out!**

**greatbigsealover44—I know! I love Gill and Deb! And I love the song from Lilo and Stitch…I've recorded myself singing it! (Maybe I should upload it to YouTube?) Anyway, thanks for reviewing!**

Chapter Eight

Nemo had spent every waking moment staring out at the ocean with a longing expression on his face. Gill and Lulu finally decided to talk to him about it. "You miss your dad, don't you, Shark Bait?" Gill asked after they had watched Nemo for about two hours in a row. Peach was playing the role of the spy, watching the dentist's activity.

"You're lucky to have someone looking out for you," he mused. Lulu nodded in agreement.

"He's not looking for me," Nemo said glumly. "He's scared of the ocean."

There was an awkward silence, broken when Gill started to talk with Peach about the latest updates. Lulu and Nemo took advantage of this and examined his damaged fin. A lot of the scales were chipped or missing, and a nasty scar almost covered his entire side. It must have hurt like hell the day he acquired this wound.

"My first escape," Gill explained, catching them staring at the fin. Lulu blushed. "I landed on the dentist tools. I was aiming for the toilet."

"The toilet?" Nemo repeated, and Lulu had to fight against the urge to laugh out loud. Nemo probably didn't know what a toilet was.

"All drains lead to the ocean, kid."

"Wow," Nemo breathed.

"How many times have you tried to escape?" Lulu asked, tearing her eyes away from the scar to look Gill in the eye.

"Eh, I lost count," he said with as much nonchalance as he could muster. "Fish aren't meant to be in a box. It does things to you."

Lulu nodded, thinking about the others. Bubbles was obsessed with the little things that didn't last long; Deb had an imaginary friend; Gurgle and Jacques were neat freaks. And Gill and Bloat didn't seem to have anything wrong with them…or Peach, for that matter. Lulu hoped that she and Nemo wouldn't go crazy inside the tank as they tried to escape.

"Potty break, potty break," Peach announced at the top of his lungs. "He just grabbed the Reader's Digest. We have four point two minutes!"

"That's your cue, Shark Bait! Okay, you gotta be quick! Once you're inside, swim to the bottom of the chamber and I'll toss you a pebble and talk you through the rest," Gill said to Nemo, who looked more than a little nervous. Lulu didn't blame him.

"How do you know what the inside of the chamber looks like?" She asked, swimming over to join the conversation.

"I've been here longer than anybody else," Gill said. "And I once looked at the pages of the Beginner's Guide to Owning an Aquarium."

"You have very good memory," Lulu observed, and Gill smiled at the compliment.

"C'mon, it'll be a piece of kelp," He promised.

"You can do it, Shark Bait!" Bloat chimed in. Nemo took a deep breath and left the water of the tank and entered the filter. After a few moments, his shadow appeared on the hidden chamber that could be reached through the filter.

"Nicely done! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah!"

"All right, here comes a pebble," Gill said, reaching down and picking one up from the floor of the tank.

"Won't he need a bigger one than that?" Lulu wondered. "What if it isn't big enough to stop the fan?"

"Then we'll keep tossing them over until we find one big enough to stop the fan," Gill replied, not looking at her. He had this whole plan really figured out, and he wasn't letting anything distract him. "Now, do you see a small opening?"

"Yeah," Nemo responded.

"Very carefully lodge the pebble into the rotating fan to stop it from moving."

"Ouch!" Nemo yelped, and they all guessed correctly by thinking that he had nearly lost his good fin to the fan.

"Careful, Shark Bait," Gill called over.

"I can't do it!" He whined.

"Gill, this is a bad idea," Peach started to say.

"He'll be fine," Gill insisted. "Try again."

"I got it! I got it!" He yelled. Peach and Lulu exhaled a sigh of relief, and the others cheered.

"Great job, kid," Gill praised. "Now, swim up the tube and back over to us. What did I tell you?" He said smugly to the gang. "I knew the kid had it in him!"

"We didn't doubt him, Gill," Gurgle muttered under his breath, causing almost everyone else to roll their eyes.

"Wait, be quiet," Lulu hissed, pressing her ear against the tank wall. "I hear something else moving in there." It was the scraping of metal against glass, followed by the whirring of a fan. "It's started up again!"

"Oh, no!" Deb shouted.

"Gill! Gill! Help me!" Nemo screamed, and Lulu could almost picture him being pulled into a rotating fan of death…kind of like Syndrome from The Incredibles movie…and it would have been awesome if it wasn't so serious. And Lulu didn't want this to happen to a person that she liked, least of all Nemo!

"Oh my gosh!"

"What do we do? What do we do?"

"Hey, kid, take hold of this!" Gill shouted, grabbed onto a giant plant and stuffing it up the filter. Lulu saw what he was trying to do, and she joined the others as they jammed it up the filter. "Help him!" Gill ordered.

"That's it! We don't have any more!" Gurgle protested, holding his fins up helplessly.

"Come on, Shark Bait! Grab it!"

"I've got it!"

They all pulled as hard as they could, and finally Nemo appeared with the plant, landing on top of the gang. They were all piled into a group hug of sorts, whimpering and softly sobbing. Gill watched them in disbelief.

"Gill, don't make him go in there again," Lulu pleaded. Peach nodded, also shooting Gill the same mournful glance, and Gill, in turn, acquired this look of enlightenment. But he looked just as miserable as ever. And as he left the whimpering group of fish, Lulu heard him mutter only three words.

"No. We're done."

* * *

Elsewhere, Nigel and a few other pelicans, including Alicia, perched on top of a lighthouse to talk in a place where they wouldn't be bothered by the pesky seagulls. The overgrown pigeons had stalked them whenever they acquired a meal, chanting over and over again, "Mine? Mine? Mine? Mine?"

"How big is this flock?" Alicia wondered as they stared out at the ocean. She started to see why Nigel was constantly looking for peace and quiet: everywhere they went, someone wanted to talk to them.

"Pretty darn big," Nigel replied thoughtfully. "I've lost count, though. Don't know my own, uh, followers…"

"What? Are you the leader of the flock?" Alicia asked in surprise. She had always assumed that Nigel was a popular pelican from watching the movies, but the leader of the flock…she had no idea!

"More or less," he shrugged, and the topic of conversation changed, but Alicia couldn't stop thinking about this new insight into Nigel's life.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_


	9. Chapter 9

**SPOILER ALERT: There will be two chapters uploaded on Christmas! (Not really a spoiler alert, more like a head's up, lol.)**

**Alicia—Aha! I have played with your expectations, haven't I? I am evil! Mwah hah ha hah!**

Chapter Nine

The entire tank was filled with silence the next day. Nobody wanted to talk about what Nemo had gone through…nobody even wanted to think about it. And everyone was slightly angry or disappointed with Gill, and they were putting on a big show about not talking to him. Only Lulu felt slightly terrible about the awful look she had seen on his face after they had rescued Nemo. If he was sorry for what he had done, then she wanted to hear it from his lips. And while she was thinking about it, there were a few other things that she'd like to hear him say…it was nice of him to say that she was one in a million, but aside from that, they had had almost no interaction. And Lulu was determined to change that.

"Has anyone seen Gill today?" She asked everyone. Nobody had an answer. And if they knew, they certainly weren't telling her to spite Gill. Peach was the most helpful.

"Last I saw him, he was behind Mount Wanna-Hock-A-Loogie." Lulu listened to his directions and swam around the plastic volcano about a million times. But there was no sign of the other Moorish idol. She was growing a little exhausted from swimming around in circles and a little worried about the leader of the Tank Gang when she felt something brush against her fin. At first she thought it was another plant, but then she remembered that plants weren't usually black or white…or broken…or scaly…or attached to the bodies of fish.

"Gill, what are you doing under there?" Lulu knew exactly what was happening. Some fish tended to have suicidal tendencies in captivity, and when this happened, they hid under the rocks at the bottom of the tank and ate the food that landed on top of them in order to survive. Gill was doing that now. No wonder she hadn't seen him that morning. "You can't spend the rest of your life down here," she said gently, pushing a few rocks out of the way.

"Go away," he said coldly, not budging an inch. "I want to be alone."

Even though she was reluctant to leave him, she nodded. "If you ever want to talk, I'll be around here," she reminded him.

"It's not like we have much of a choice, do we?" He retorted, and she didn't immediately swim off, not without giving him a suggestion.

"Look, I know that you're the leader of the gang, but if you're going to take my advice only once in your lifetime, take it now. Don't hide under the rocks. You can go and rest in that old skull if you want to," she added, half-joking, half-serious. He didn't respond, and she remembered what he had said earlier about fish being trapped in a tank. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did," he said wryly. Lulu rolled her eyes.

"When you said that being in a tank does things to fish…were you talking about yourself?"

"I'm suicidal, Million. Every time another plan fails, I make another attempt on my life. When I landed on the dentist tools," he added, sticking his injured fin up out of the rocks, "I wasn't trying to escape. I was aiming for the tools. I wanted to die then. Probably would have succeeded if the Dentist hadn't spotted me thrashing around."

"Look, we need you here," Lulu argued, shocked at what she was hearing but deciding not to let this on. "Who is going to come up with the amazing escape plans?"

"That was my last plan," he groaned, shifting over in the rocks. "We're doomed."

"Maybe the rest of us are," she said thoughtfully, and Gill raised an eyebrow. "But we can't let Nemo go with Darla." She suddenly appeared to be more determined. "I'm going to find a way to help him escape. Maybe you should try thinking about him instead of the rest of us. We can leave later." And she left him along then, swimming away silently. "What's so important about the ocean anyway?" She wondered out loud.

"Hey, Million," he called out softly, and she turned to face him once more. "Thanks."

"Who was the one who said that I was 'one in a million'?" She teased, and she was relieved when she saw the ghost of a smile touch his face before they parted ways.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_I mean it…I'm a review whore, and I only got one review for the last chapter. And that makes me sad. :(_


	10. Chapter 10

**Merry Christmas, everyone! As a special treat, tomorrow I will upload two chapters!**

**Alicia—I know! He so needs love…from ME! I have some great material planned out ahead, I think you're going to love it!**

**Hearts Aglow—Thank you for your help! Enjoy this chapter!**

Chapter Ten

The day was scorching hot, and Alicia was relieved to be near the ocean and looking for food. "This is the best spot to get crabs!" Nigel announced when they landed by a group of rocks surrounded by water. "My sister Maria comes here all the time!"

"I didn't know you had a sister!" Alicia said, surprised.

"Yeah, she's the runt," Nigel joked.

"But I got the brains and the beauty!" A voice cried out from overhead, and they looked up and found two female pelicans descending to join them. This was Maria, who playfully stuck her tongue out at her brother. "The only reason why I hang out with you is because Nicole here likes your friend Gerald!"

"I do not!" Her friend protested, playfully swatting Maria's wing. Nigel just groaned and rolled his eyes, flying away from the trio to hunt on a different rock. "But speaking of Gerald, here he is now!" The one called Nicole whispered when the annoying third wheel Alicia had met a few nights ago joined Nigel on a rock.

"Sweet! You got a crab already!" Nigel complimented, noticing the crustacean in his friend's bill.

"Here, Nigel! You can have it!" Gerald squeaked, flying away to hunt for other food in a different place.

"You should stay and talk with us sometime," Nicole yelled after him, but Gerald didn't seem to hear her, and if he did, he ignored what she told him.

"Is Nigel usually this…demanding?" Alicia asked, lowering her voice.

"He's never demanding," Maria giggled. "But if he ever seems like there's nothing in his head but air, it's probably because our mum dragged him around by the head too much when he was a baby."

"But try telling all of this to Gerald," Nicole snickered. "He's constantly kicking Nigel's feathery butt. I don't know if he's afraid of the guy or obsessed with him."

"The only one who Gerald loves more than Nigel is you, Nicole," Maria teased, causing the other pelican to pout mockingly. They stopped talking for a moment or two when some seagulls flying overhead noticed Nigel's meal and swooped down, perched on a rock opposite him, and started chanting, "Mine? Mine? Mine? Mine? Mine?"

"Will you just SHUT UP?" Nigel groaned, addressing the loud seagulls. "You're rats with wings!"

"You can say that again!" A pelican flying overhead called down, gracefully descending to join the others on the rock. He grinned at everyone, even Alicia, seeming unfazed by the presence

"Alicia, this is Hubert," Maria smiled, a tiny blush creeping into her cheeks. Nicole, however, did not smile.

"You almost never stop to chat…unless there's something wrong! What is it?" She asked, her voice full of concern.

"It's nothing serious, but I heard it through the grapevine about something that's been going on under the sea, and…" He paused, shooting the seagulls a contemptuous glare. "Nigel, shut them up!"

"I'm trying!" He whined, dangling the crab over his bill mockingly, teasing the gulls with the potential meal.

"Anyway, did you hear about this Marlin bloke that's been looking for his boy Nemo? He was taken out of the water by divers and this…"

"Hey, Nigel!" Alicia interrupted, shouting at Nigel. "I think you should here this! It's about Nemo!"

"What about him?" He called back, but he didn't hear her response over the squawks of the gulls. "There, just take it!" Nigel shouted, tossing the crab away. "Are you all happy?" The gulls did not answer. They only watched the crab stand before them, moving his claws around before it jumped into the water. "Mine?" One of them asked despondently.

"You said something about Nemo! What was it?" Nigel asked, taking advantage of the silence. He was filled in by everyone about the latest developments in the case involving a father hunting down his kidnapped son.

"Last I heard, the dad was heading for the harbor," Hubert concluded.

"That's brilliant!" He shouted, taking off and heading away from the harbor.

"I'll go see what he's up to, but I think I know what it is," Alicia announced, flying after him.

"Make sure he doesn't crash into anymore windows! He does that too much! People will wonder if—"

Alicia didn't hear the rest of what Maria was telling her. She had already flown away.

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_Review, please! :)_


	11. Chapter 11

**Phew! I think I can finally return to my usual schedule. Daily updates are back, ladies and gentlemen!**

**Alicia—Well, there are no seagulls here. Thank goodness for that!**

**greatbigsealover44—I always thought they were funny, ha hah. But thanks for the review! You rock!**

Chapter Eleven

Although the seagulls seemed to be having a cheerful day, things weren't as optimistic in the tank. Nemo and Gill were moping around in different areas, making sure that they were seldom seen. Much to Lulu's relief, Gill hadn't tried to commit suicide again, and he was mostly lurking about in his fake skull. But after a few hours of this dull atmosphere and shooting glances of the utmost contempt at the dentist, everyone had had enough.

"That's it! I'm going to talk to Nemo," Lulu told Deb, who nodded in agreement. Even she wasn't feeling chipper (and neither was Flo).

"Just don't mention D-A-R-L-A!" Gurgle hissed.

"I can hear you, and I know who you're talking about," Nemo said flatly. Bloat smacked Gurgle on the back of the head, not appreciating his "help". Lulu swam inside of the diver's helmet—Jacques usually spent his time in here, but the French shrimp was busy tidying up Mount Wanna-Hock-A-Loogie, probably hoping to avoid the tension.

"Are you doing okay, Shark Bait?" Lulu asked, placing a fin on Nemo gently. He shrugged and shook his head. "Don't feel rotten," she said. "You did nothing wrong. Go ask Gill and he'll agree with me one hundred percent."

"He won't be mad, will he?" Nemo asked, his eyes big with worry. Lulu chuckled a little. She couldn't imagine Gill ever being mad. Cross, maybe, but he would never be mad.

"No, he won't, I guarantee it," she promised. "He feels just as rotten as you do right about now." Nemo didn't budge an inch. "Would it help if I went with you?" He nodded a little, and they practically floated across the tank to Gill's little home. Nemo shot a forlorn look up at the filter, and Lulu held his fin for the rest of the way.

"Gill, are you still here?" Lulu asked, peering into the pitch black eyes of the skull.

"Hey, Million…hi, Shark Bait," he called out. Lulu saw movement inside, but she didn't see the whites of his eyes. He wouldn't look at them at all. Nemo cleared his throat.

"Gill, I'm so sorry that I couldn't stop the—"

"No, I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I was so ready to get out of here, so ready to taste that ocean, that I was willing to put you in harm's way. Nothing should be worth that." Lulu sensed that the two needed some distance, and she wandered over to the tank wall, just below the dreaded filter. She looked past the damned dentist, and her whole face lit up when she spotted two familiar, feathery faces.

"Here come some people to cheer you up!" Lulu called out. "It's Nigel and Alicia!" The two pelicans were flying up to their usual perch outside the office. Nigel appeared to be out of breath, and Alicia was calling out to him. If she was telling him to watch out for the window, then her advice came a little too late, because the leader of her flock smashed into the window.

"Hey!" The dentist shouted, removing his piece of equipment from the patient's mouth, taking a tooth with it in the process. The poor man screamed in pain, and the dentist chuckled, "Well, that's one way to pull a tooth. Good thing I pulled the right one, eh, Prime Minister?"

"You just missed an extraction, Nigel," Peach joked as soon as the birds reappeared.

"What have I missed?" He began asking questions that began or ended with weird medical jargon, and Alicia shot him a look that reminded him of why he had flown over here in such a hurry. "Oh, what am I talking about? Is Nemo here?"

"Yes, I'm here!" Nemo answered, joining the rest of the Tank Gang by the wall.

"Your dad has been searching the entire ocean looking for you! He's been going up against sharks and jellyfish and what-not just to get here!"

"That can't be my dad," Nemo insisted, shaking his head.

"No, no, I think it was!" Alicia shook her head. "His name is Marlin, right?"

"It's my dad! He took on a shark!"

"We heard that he took on three!" Alicia corrected, holding up three feathers. The Tank Gang members gasped, hardly daring to believe it. Even Gill looked more than a little surprised.

"That's gotta be forty eight hundred teeth!" Bloat said in admiration.

"Well, depending on the type of shark," Lulu started to say, but cut herself off when Nigel and Alicia started to tell Nemo about everything his dad had gone through. Apparently he had been swimming for miles and miles, travelling the East Australian Current after taking on an army of jellyfish and three blood-thirsty sharks.

"Oh, what a good daddy he is!" Deb cooed happily.

"He's a devoted father, that's for sure," Nigel added, and he and Alicia flew away.

"He was looking for you after all, Shark Bait!" Gill concluded, flashing a grin at Nemo…or rather, at the place Nemo had occupied only a few seconds ago. And now—

"He's swimming to the filter!" Gurgle gasped. This was true. The little clownfish had picked up another pebble and was now entering the chamber that he had barely escaped with his life.

"Oh, no, not again!" Lulu panicked, dashing over, the rest of the gang behind her. "If he dies in there, I'm never going to forgive myself!"

* * *

_Review, please! :)_


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm back from the doctor. I hate being sick. :(**

**Princess LaLaBlue—I'll check out the chapter for your story in a little while. Thanks for returning to read my story, and thanks! I'm glad that you think my ideas are original! And, ha hah! The cliffhanger has been defeated!**

**Alicia—He isn't here. He's talking…to you! ;)**

**Hearts Aglow—Thanks for the review! You rock!**

Chapter Eleven

"Oh, God, oh God," Lulu cried out, swimming frantically in a circle (although she would later admit that she had no idea why she thought this would help). "Somebody do something!"

"You've got your whole life ahead of you!" Gurgle shouted, his pleas falling on deaf ears, following him over to the filter.

"If only I was small enough," Lulu complained, hating herself at the moment. Of all the fish out there, why did she have to become a Moorish idol? Why would she want to be one? And then she snuck a glance over at Gill, and she remembered…but she didn't forget Nemo. After a few tension-y moments of watching for a sign, they saw his silhouette inside the tiny chamber.

"We'll help you get out of there, kid!" Gill promised. "Somebody grab a plant!"

"Give it to me!" Deb demanded, snatching a long, green one off of the bottom of the tank. "Help me get it to him!"

"Nemo, can you reach this?" Lulu asked, stuffing the stem of the plant into the filter as far as it could go. In response, they heard a horrible screech, like something had skidded for a while and then been jammed in something metallic. "I can't see him!" She freaked out, slapping a fin against the tank wall. Deb started crying, her tears mingling with the freshwater of the tank. Lulu felt her own tears welling up behind her eyes, and she stifled a sob.

"Can you hear me, Shark Bait?" Gill shouted. "Nemo, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I can hear you!" Nemo replied, popping out of nowhere behind the gang. Everyone cheered and congratulated Shark Bait on his accomplishment. Gurgle was so relieved that he threw a fin around the clownfish, beaming and sighing with relief. But then—

"Shark Bait, you're…you're covered in ocean germs!" He screamed, swimming away to find Jacques and get cleaned off.

"If you want to go to the ocean, you're going to have to get used to it!" Lulu called after him. When the purple perfectionist returned, Gill began a pep talk.

"All right, gang, we have less than forty-eight hours before Darla gets here. This tank will get plenty dirty in that time, but we have to help along in any way we can. Jacques, no cleaning, and everyone else needs to be as gross as possible. Think dirty thoughts. We're gonna make this tank so filthy that the dentist will have to clean it." Bloat belched loudly. "Good work," Gill said approvingly, causing Nemo to giggle, but Lulu wasn't finished with the kid yet. She took him off to the side and gave him a stern glare.

"Don't…scare us like that again! Do you understand?" Nemo nodded, looking slightly bitter at being scolded for something he had done to help everyone, and she scooped him up in a hug, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but you know that we all love you, okay? Deb loves you—"

"I thought Deb loved Flo—"

"Well, Flo loves you, too. You're like a little brother to all of us. Even Gurgle likes you, and so does Gill—"

"I thought Gill liked you," he said, but Lulu couldn't tell if he was teasing or not. He took advantage of her shocked silence and went to play with Bloat and a few others over at the plastic mountain.

* * *

The pelicans decided that the lighthouse would be the best place to spot Marlin and his blue companion, Dory, and they spent their night up there, not taking their eyes off of the water unless they had to. Alicia was paying close attention, but even she got a little bored after a while. "Don't you ever think that this gets boring after a while?" She asked Nigel. "Like, have you ever wanted a change of scenery?"

"We get one once in a while when we migrate," he replied, casually plucking a few stray feathers from his wings.

"But when will that be?" She asked petulantly. Her animal instincts told her that the time to fly off probably wouldn't be for a very long time, and Nigel confirmed this.

"Oh, maybe in five or six months, sometimes less," he said thoughtfully. "Why do you ask?"

"I've always wanted to go to Denmark," she said without thinking. "They have the statue of The Little Mermaid there…and great water! It's a great place to catch fish…they're really stupid there, and so I wouldn't feel guilty about eating them as much…"

"I'll tell you what: once we get Nemo back in the ocean, we can pop by that place and check it out, k?" Alicia responded by throwing both of her wings around him in a hug, catching him off guard.

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_Review, please! :)_

_And for those of you who were wondering…A Fish Tale is a Danish/American movie. ;)_


	13. Chapter 13

**Guest—Is that you, Princess LaLaBlue? I can't tell. But even if you aren't, I hope you also have a happy new year.**

**Alicia—Yes, he is, isn't he? You get more time with him here!**

Chapter Thirteen

A whole night of staring out into the ocean wasn't just boring. It had exhausted almost everyone, and they all agreed that a break from their usual routine was in order. And now, the flock of pelicans was perching in this little nook that had a perfect view of the dock and plenty of opportunity to get some sun without getting blinded by the light or scorched by the heat. Alicia was getting some much-needed relaxation from this, and she was even happier to be with Nigel and his friends. It was almost ruined twice: once by Gerald, and once by Maria. The first time happened around noon when a few of the birds went off to find some fish. Gerald had apparently gotten some of his meal stuck in his throat. "Can someone please help the poor guy out?" Nigel mumbled, shutting his eyes against the daylight and trying to take a brief nap. "I did the Heimlich last time." Nicole had taken off, eager for the chance to help him.

But the second time was about two hours later. Nigel had been asleep for quite some time, and Alicia was beginning to feel a little drowsy, too. That was when Maria, the only pelican who had been missing all day, showed up and began nagging Nigel in a shrill voice. "Where have you been all day? Have you and your girlfriend been lazing about here while I began the preparations for migrating? You'd better get yourself up right now and do something useful!"

"Isn't it a little early to be thinking about migrating?" Alicia asked, blinking as she snapped to attention at the word 'girlfriend'. She was grateful for everything Nigel had taught her yesterday about the migrating patterns.

"There's no time like the present," Maria said primly, smoothing a few of the feathers on her wings.

"I can't move from this spot," Nigel groaned. "I'm too lazy. Maria, can you do me a favor and pop by the dentist's place? Give me an update on the guys in the tank."

"Would you like for me to fix you your lunch, too, my lord?" She asked sarcastically.

"That would be great, thanks," he said casually, and Maria rolled her eyes.

"Sometimes I wish I had a sister," she huffed before fluttering away.

"Does she even know where the dentist's office is?" Alicia asked, watching her take off.

"Yeah, she's been there a couple of times," Nigel replied, not opening his eyes. "Wonder what's gotten into her? She's been acting so weird."

"She's just cranky because Hubie hasn't been hanging around us all day," Nicole explained. After spending about an hour alone with her lovable loser, she had returned to sunbathe. She was sitting to the right of Alicia, and Nigel was by her left.

"Yeah, where is he?" Alicia asked.

"Beats me," she shrugged. "I think it's his turn to go and watch out for Marlin and his friend." In addition to the small vacation, another good thing had come from the night of staring at water. The pelicans had agreed that they would take turns looking out for the devoted dad and his traveling companion. Nigel had made it perfectly clear to the rest of the flock that he wanted to see Marlin reunited with his son, no matter what, and the rest of the pelicans were eager to help out in any way possible.

"I can cover the next shift," Alicia offered.

"No, don't go to all that trouble. I'll do it," Nicole said.

"Oh, no, I really want to," Alicia pleaded. "It'll give me something to do."

"Well, okay, if you really want to," Nicole said, raising an eyebrow. "But it's gonna be bore-ring all by yourself."

"I can keep watch over you—and the fish—too, if you'd like," Nigel piped up, stammering and fumbling over his answer. Nicole chuckled and Alicia blushed.

"Well, I'd like that very much," she said, and Nigel grinned.

"Hey, the fun has returned!" Maria announced, landing next to Alicia and Nicole and ignoring her brother. "Alicia, have you been by Diver Dan's today?"

"What? No, I haven't," she chuckled at the nickname for the dentist. "Why do you ask? Is something wrong with the Tank Gang?"

"I can't see them at all."

"What do you mean, you can't see them at all?" Nigel asked, joining in the conversation. Maria answered his question, but didn't look at him.

"I can't see inside the tank because it's so filthy!"

"What?"

"You should see the water! It's not blue or clear anymore—it's green!"

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_Review, please! :) _


	14. Chapter 14

**Oh, shit, there go the fireworks outside. My dog hates fireworks, so she'll be barking all night long. In typical fashion, the LuluCalliope will begin a new year with a cranky demeanor and a fresh hatred for her neighbors.**

**Princess LaLaBlue—I thought you were the guest, ha hah! Your review made me laugh! And I got your PM, and I hope you have a happy new year too!**

**greatbigsealover44—I'm glad you think so! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Have a happy new year!**

**Alicia—I'll text you tonight at midnight and wish you a Happy New Year then!**

Chapter Fourteen

"Look at that. Would you look at that? Filthy…absolutely filthy," Gill observed, admiring Nemo's handiwork. "And it's all thanks to you, kid. Great work." Nemo swelled up with pride, happy that he was going to be reunited with his father in no time. "Jacques!" Gill barked out. "I thought I said no cleaning!"

"I am ashamed," the shrimp apologized, bowing his head and moving away from the area that he had been attempting to clean. Every surface in the tank was green, the color of algae. Even Bubbles saw that his precious bubbles were becoming green and stinky, and this upset him greatly. But not everyone was totally sad. Bloat was delighted with this change, eating some of the green substances and rolling around in it. Gurgle, at one point, asked him if he realized that they were swimming in their own excrement. Lulu, after hearing this, pretended to vomit and made a mental note of what she had overheard, deciding that she would never look at her fish tank the same way again.

"Hey, look at me!" Peach yelled, wiggling around on the glass surface. "I'm making a scum angel!" Lulu laughed and applauded, but scowled when Gurgle swam past her, freaking out and making a big point out of not touching anything. Flo was also circling the tank, calling out her "sister's" name every once in a while. "Okay, the dentist is here!" Peach called out around nine.

"What's he doing?" Lulu wondered, wishing that she could see the outside world. They had had a pelican visitor a few hours earlier, but nobody (with the exception of Peach) had been able to talk to her because of their obscured view of the window to the outside world.

"Talking to the patient…okay…walks to counter, drops his keys off, and—"

And then he spotted the tank, which he opened up for examination. "Crikey, what a state," he muttered in disgust, wiping a finger on the algae-covered glass. "Oh, Barbara, what's my earliest appointment tomorrow?"

"Uh, ten 'o clock, love," the secretary answered.

"Leave it open," the dentist instructed. "I gotta clean the tank before Darla gets here."

"Yes!" Gill hissed. "Did you hear that, Shark Bait?"

"We're gonna be clean! We're gonna be clean!" Nemo chanted, shaking himself free of some sizeable green bubbles. Lulu laughed and helped him get them off.

"Are you ready to see your dad?" She asked, already knowing the answer to this question.

"Uh-huh," Nemo nodded.

"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if he's out there in the harbor waiting for you right now," Gill declared, and Lulu nodded.

"So we'll be out of here by tomorrow morning?" She asked Gill.

"Yeah," he responded, lazily swimming figure eights.

"I wish it was sooner," she admitted. After being cooped up in a box with the gang, she was starting to see why they were so eager to get back in the open water.

"Patience is a virtue, Million," he said calmly, and Lulu snorted. But in spite of this, she admired Gill's persistence at trying to escape. She decided to change the subject.

"How long have you been in here?"

"Longer than anyone else has," he said truthfully. "And I was alone a long time before I came here."

"What are you thinking about doing once you get back to the ocean?"

"I'm going to stick with the gang for a while, and I don't know what we'll do together," he said thoughtfully, and Lulu smiled.

"So…I'm stuck with you guys, then?"

"If you want to leave, you can," he told her, and she cringed at the thought of leaving the gang…and Gill. "I'm not gonna stop you," he continued, oblivious to how she thought about this. "There's a whole ocean out there. Don't let me—us—be your guides." And he swam away, leaving her alone and confused.

* * *

"How's the patrol coming along?" Nigel asked lightly when he landed next to Alicia to check on her and get an update. He had brought a crab, which she accepted gratefully and ate quickly.

"Thanks," she said in between bites. "But I'm getting exhausted."

"Well, the good news is that we think that they'll be showing up here by tomorrow morning," Nigel announced, and Alicia sighed in relief.

"It's a beautiful night," she observed, looking up at the sky. It was so clear that she could see all of the stars up there…and she felt that if she wanted to, she could fly up and get a closer look.

"Hey, look at that!" Nigel gasped, pointing with a feather out into the water, and Alicia looked down to the water. The fin of a whale was poking out of the sea, and it vanished with a splash and a small shower of salt water.

"Some of the humans in Austria once believed that if teenage girls were hit by a ray of sunlight, a whale would come and take them away," Alicia remarked, remembering something she had read from the Internet.

"I hope no one will come and take you away from me," Nigel murmured, and Alicia's heart soared.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_I'm not kidding. Reviews are like cookies…I have to have them. And I've been writing a lot of stuff for chapters that are coming up ahead. I poured my HEART, BLOOD, SOUL, TEARS, and SWEAT into them. *sniffles*_

_And that tale about the whale…yeah, to be honest, I got that from Wikipedia. That was the most romantic thing about whales I could find! They are not in the slightest bit romantic!_


	15. Chapter 15

**Welcome to 2013, ladies and gentlemen. I have started the year by plotting of ways to pay back my neighbors for keeping me up last night. And as a special treat, enjoy an early morning update from yours truly!**

**KaylaKissesKangaroos—Oh, poor thing. What was the sad movie? And who wrote a bad review? Let me know so I can kick his/her butt—I mean, so I can talk to him/her. And don't worry about lengthy reviews. I don't think that it's gibberish or that it's boring. Long reviews cheer me up and help me write faster. And yes, I have read your Peter Pan story, and I've commented on it. You're doing a wonderful job!**

**Alicia—There will be loving from Gill soon enough. In the meantime, enjoy the loving with you and Nigel. ;) Happy New Year!**

**Hearts Aglow—I hope you're feeling better. Happy New Year!**

Chapter Fifteen

Lulu had been awake for a while, but she was still too tired and content to open her eyes. She smiled slightly when she heard Peach yawn from the other side of the tank. "Good morning, everyone! It's morning! Today's the day! The sun is shining, the tank is clean, and we are getting out of—the tank is clean! THE TANK IS CLEAN!"

"What?" Lulu's eyes jerked open. Instead of seeing an icky, green mess, she saw sparkling surfaces everywhere she looked. The water smelled and tasted great, and it even felt perfect…not too hot or too cold. "Oh, no! How could this have happened?"

"Boss must have installed it last night when we were sleeping," Gill muttered, referring to the metallic baby-monitor like thing that was attached to the wall just below the filter. Lulu swam over to get a closer look at it, joining the rest of the gang. And she stiffened at something that Gill had said. "What did you call him?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Okay, he may be holding us in a glass prison against our will, but I refuse—REFUSE!—to call him our boss!"

"Me, too," Deb agreed.

"I thought that we wouldn't have to call him anything for much longer because we would have been as far away from him as possible," Gill explained, his tone full of bitterness.

"But what're we gonna do?" Nemo wailed.

"What does it say, Peach?" Gill asked, referring to the open manual that came with this funny new piece of technology. Peach's response was muffled.

"Can't hear you, Peach."

"'The Aqua Scum 2003 is an all-purpose, self-cleaning maintenance free salt water purifier that is guaranteed to increase the lifespan of your aquarium fish'," Peach read aloud after he pulled away from the glass. At this last part of the statement, Bloat inflated in surprise. Lulu rushed to deflate him. "'The Aqua Scum is programmed to scan the tank every five minutes'?" Peach continued, his voice rising with confusion at the end.

"Oh, come on," Lulu groaned. "Is that necessary?"

"What do they mean, 'scan'?" Gurgle demanded. As he spoke, a thin, horizontal line of light shot out of the machine and moved up and down, taking extra time with examining the fish, much to Gurgle's displeasure. It finally vanished.

"Temperature: eighty-two degrees. PH balance: normal," a mechanic voice announced.

"CURSE YOU, AQUA SCUM!" Gurgle screamed, shaking a fist at the funny gadget.

"That's it for the escape plan! It's ruined!" Bloat declared.

"I thought Gurgle was supposed to be the pessimistic one," Lulu told him, rolling her eyes. She was not going to give up on this so easily. She turned to Gill. "Do you think we can break it and get the tank dirty in the next five seconds?" She asked, her voice flat and not holding the slightest note of hope.

"It's too late," Gill said, shaking his head. "If I had time to look at it the night before, then maybe, but we can still help you, Shark Bait!"

"But what are we gonna do about—?"

"Stay down, kid!" Gill ordered, shoving Nemo into a plastic barrel that was part of the decorations. And Lulu watched a tall woman and a sad little boy enter the building. There was no Darla anywhere.

"False alarm," Bloat sighed, and Nemo poked out cautiously.

"My nerves can't take much more of this," Gurgle complained, and Lulu bit back against a long list of insults she had. She bit down hard.

"Shut up, I'm thinking," Gill snapped, beating her to it. He was thinking so hard that he didn't notice the human hand appearing in the tank with a net. Or that the net was picking Nemo up and getting him ready for transportation to fish hell. (Lulu was convinced that Darla was the fish devil.)

"Gill, help me!" The clownfish cried out, and everyone panicked, knowing that they had less time to act than they initially thought they had.

"I'm coming, kid!" Gill shouted, joining Nemo in the net, adding to the weight in the dentist's hand. Lulu saw where he was going with this: if Nemo was going up the river, they were all going up the river.

"Jump in!" Bloat yelled, hopping next to Gill.

"Everyone, swim down," Gill instructed. "That's it!"

"What the heck?" The dentist cried out as the net slipped from his hand. And they all cheered, pleased at their small victory. But the dentist was determined, and he was clever. He used one of the plastic baggies this time, and he captured Nemo successfully, placing him on the counter outside of the tank.

"What do I do, Gill?"

"Swim forward! Go out the window!" Lulu cried out. "Just stick to the plan! Lean forward!" Nemo obeyed, and it looked like he was actually going to make a break for it. But then—

"Whoops! That would have been a nasty fall," the dentist remarked, placing the bag in a container. Nemo could keep rolling forward, but he wouldn't be able to escape the container now. He was truly trapped.

"Gill, help me! Don't let me go belly up! I don't wanna go belly up!" Nemo screamed, darting around the bag hysterically.

"Nemo, sweetie, it's okay," Lulu called out, her voice frantic. "We're not going to let you go to that awful girl."

"You're not gonna go belly up, I promise!"

And the door to the dentist's office banged open, causing a glass picture to shatter. The girl who walked in was so ugly that there was no mistaking her for the fish killing monster that was here for her uncle's present. It was—

"Darla!"

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_Review, please! :)_


	16. Chapter 16

**Ugh, tomorrow I have to go back to school. I cannot contain my excitement. *rolls eyes* I'll work on the new chapter in my math class, then upload it when I get home, I promise! Daily updates will continue, regardless of the dumb-ass classes I have to take!**

**KaylaKissesKangaroos—That is so cool about you and Alicia both being from Texas! Only I'm guessing you're younger than her and about my age, right? (I'm sixteen, like in the story.) GASPS! Oh, my gosh, you should totally start being in our fan girls stories!**

**Alicia—What do you think? (Read the author's note above.) And yeah, he is so protective…you should see how he will be later in the story.**

**Sandy—Thanks for the review, but I'm not quite sure what you're asking. Do you want to see the character of Dory later? Because she is in this one!**

**greatbigsealover44—I was always afraid of Darla, too. I wondered why I didn't know anyone like her already. (I think I was about her age when the movie came out.)**

**Hearts Aglow—Are you feeling any better? I hope you are!**

Chapter Sixteen

"They must have been here by now," Alicia muttered, her eyes surveying the open waters of the ocean. "Where could they be?"

"Oh, don't worry your pretty head about it, love," Nigel said confidently, leaning back and relaxing a little. "I'm sure they'll be along in a couple of hours," he added, oblivious to her blushing. They were in the same cozy place where they had heard the news about the dentist's tank being filthy, and this was one of the better places to watch the waters for fish. And apparently a few of the other pelicans had gone off in search of breakfast, including Gerald, who was choking on his down on the docks.

"Reckon somebody oughta help the poor guy," Nigel said as he watched his friend's suddering, causing a chorus of "yeah, rights" from the others for a response. He rolled his eyes. "Well, don't everyone fly off at once," he said sarcastically before taking off, Alicia following. "Alright, Gerald, what is it? Fish got your tongue?" He joked when they landed next to the gagging bird. But his eyes widened and he shouted, "Love a duck!" when Gerald opened his mouth to reveal that there were two fish stuck in his mouth: one was an adult, male clownfish. And the other was a blue female angelfish. They seemed to be looking for someone named…Nemo?

"Oh, my gosh, Nigel, that's Marlin! That's Nemo's dad!" Alicia's eyes squinted into a glare as she stared at the gasping Gerald. "What was that you had said earlier about nobody eating these two fish?"

"We can deal with that later!" Nigel shouted, following the two fish as they tried to leap into the water. "Hey, wait a minute! You two, stop, I know where—"

SPLAT! Something white landed on the dock, and at first, Alicia thought that somebody had thrown an egg onto the wood. But when she looked up, she noticed the largest cluster of seagulls she had ever seen in her life, watching her, Nigel, and the fish with beady black eyes.

"Mine?"

"Okay, don't make any sudden moves," Nigel whispered, leaning closer to the gasping fish. "Hop inside my mouth if you want to live." He left his mouth open slightly.

"Hop in your mouth, huh? And how does that make me live?" Marlin asked sarcastically.

"It's either him or them," Alicia pointed out, just as a seagull flew closer to them and asked hopefully, "Mine?"

"And I can take you to your son," Nigel added.

"Yeah, right," Marlin scoffed.

"He's telling the truth!" Alicia hissed. "I've seen him! He looks just like you, but smaller, and he's got a bad fin on one side of his body—"

"THAT'S MY SON!" Marlin screamed joyfully, leaping for joy and provoking the seagulls to swarm around them, all hoping for a bite of the fishes. They began a fierce game of tug-of-war over Dory while Nigel busied himself with rescuing them.

"Fasten your seatbelts!" He shouted, swooping over the water, splashing some of it inside his mouth so that the fish friends wouldn't suffocate from the lack of water.

"I'll fly ahead, Nigel!" Alicia decided. "Let's split the seagulls up!"

"Good idea!" He replied, but with a mouthful of food—eh, fish—he sounded more like, "Goo I team-a!" Alicia ignored this and changed directions, heading to the dentist's office.

* * *

BANG! BANG! BANG! "Too loud, it's too loud for me!" Bubbles whined, referring to the deafening thuds that Darla made by tapping on the glass of the tank. And her singing wasn't helping, either. "TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR," she belted out, poking at the area Peach occupied. With every tap on the glass, he began to peel backwards.

"Find a happy place! Find a happy place!" He cried out, losing his grip on sanity. Lulu's vision was growing blurry, and her ears felt like they were bleeding. But she managed to hear one phrase from the dentist's dumb secretary before she fell into a catatonic state. And she knew that it was hopeless for Nemo. There was nothing they could do.

"Darla, your uncle will see you now."

"Oh boy, I'm getting really light-headed," Lulu giggled, closing her eyes and feeling herself drift up towards the top of the tank…

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_Review, please! :)_


	17. Chapter 17

**I'm in my Marketing class as I write this, but I don't know when this chapter will be uploaded. School is exactly the way I remembered it. Speaking of Marketing, this is very important: I am NOT SURE if there will be updates on the following days: Friday, January 11****th**** and Saturday, January 12****th****. I will be going on a swamp retreat with a few members from the Marketing Club, so I will not be near a computer.**

**Alicia—You should read one of the conversations between him and Joe. I can't believe I wrote it…it's very dark…so unlike me…but yeah, he gets pretty protective, tee hee.**

**Kayla—Perfect! Do you have a Skype? Alicia, Jenna, and I usually meet on there to discuss our plans for fan fiction, and you can join our group!**

**Hearts Aglow—Oh, wow. That was very punny! I think I should use it next time I watch Finding Nemo!**

Chapter Seventeen

"This is no time to be playing dead, Lulu," Gill snapped, pulling the nearly deaf fish down from the top of the tank. Lulu groaned out loud, but mentally squealed in joy. Gill had finally said her name! She couldn't remember the last time he had called her by her given name! "Is he doing okay? What's the dentist doing?" Gill asked Peach.

"See for yourself," the starfish answered. And Lulu swam up to the glass and watched the dentist interact with his favorite (and possibly youngest and definitely ugliest) patient.

"All right, let's have a look at those pearly whites!" The dentist cooed.

She playfully bit at her uncle's gloved fingers. "I'm a piranha! They're from the Amazon!" Darla announced, pleased at having such a vast knowledge on everything. Lulu rolled her eyes. Some kids were cute, but others thought that once they hit a certain age, they knew everything there was to know. Darla fell into the latter category.

Her uncle, however, was pleased by what she said. "That's right! And a piranha is a fish, just like your present!" This prompted Darla to start kicking her legs up and down on the seat and start singing again. "I get a fishy! Fishy, fishy, fishy!" But her words fell on deaf ears when the dentist lifted up Nemo's plastic baggie. His prisoner was floating upside down with his eyes closed. And he didn't seem to be breathing. "Oh, no, poor little guy."

"He's dead!" Deb cried.

"Oh, no!"

"Shark Bait!"

"Oops, sweetie, I think that I left your present in the car. Why don't you wait here and I'll go get it?" The dentist asked, hiding the bag from his pouting niece. But as he turned to walk away, they all got a quick glance at Nemo, who smiled and winked at the Tank Gang.

"No, he's not dead! He's faking it so that he can get out of here!" Lulu realized. "He's gonna get flushed down the toilet!"

"Oh, no, not the trash can!" Bloat shouted when the dentist changed direction, moving away from the open bathroom door and towards a metallic bin.

"What kind of a person dumps a fish in the trash can?" Lulu demanded, wrinkling her nose as she thought of how bad the dead fish would smell after a few days.

"Hey!" A familiar voice cried out, and then the speaker landed on the window sill.

"Alicia!"

"Nigel's coming with his dad! Nemo…where's Nemo? His dad is coming!" Alicia panted, her eyes darting around the tank, searching for the small kid.

"He's going to be dumped in the trash can!" Lulu replied. "Nemo, can you hear me? Your dad is coming!" She raised her voice and got as close to him as she could within the glass walls of the tank, but Nemo was still keeping up his act.

"Oh, no! Alicia, where is Nigel?" Lulu asked.

"Um…he has a little pest control problem at the moment," she answered, thinking of the flying rats and their constantly moving mouths.

"NO! I'm here!" The leader of the bird flock cried out. Lulu gasped when she saw Marlin and Dory's heads poking out.

"Nemo is over there! He's with the dentist!" Deb explained, pointing with a fin.

"What? What's a dentist? What…Nigel, you have to go in there!"

"I can't go in there!" Nigel protested.

"Oh, yes you can! CHARGE!" Marlin ordered, grabbing onto Nigel's tongue and pulling him into the room with it. Darla began screaming.

"Darla, sweetie, nobody's going to hurt you!" The dentist promised, struggling to control the loose pelican in the room. Alicia just watched helplessly, not sure of what to do or how to help out. If she went inside, then the dentist would go after her, and that would distract him from Nigel…but what if she got in Nigel's way? She had no idea what Marlin was planning. She was just sitting there, contemplating, but apparently this was a crime in the stupid dentist's eyes.

"Out with you both, and STAY OUT!" The dentist commanded, shoving Nigel and Alicia out of the window and slamming it.

"Daddy, is that you?" Nemo had heard Marlin's voice before he had been kicked out, and now he had dropped his act and was just looking out of his bag with a confused look. Darla must have mistaken this for a sleepy-eyed look, because she took hold of his bag and started commanding him to wake up. "Fishy, wake up! Wake up! WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING?" Darla shouted, shaking the bag up and down vigorously.

"Oh, no!" Deb cried.

"Quick! To the top of Mount-Wanna-Hock-A-Loogie!" Gill declared dramatically. They all dashed there, and Bloat, under Gill's instructions, inflated so that the plastic volcano was pointing a certain way out of the tank. And after Jacques began running the Ring of Fire, this launched Gill from the top of the volcano into Darla's hair. She freaked out and let Nemo's bag go sailing through the air. It landed and splattered all over some dentist tools.

"What? Have all the animals gone mad?" The dentist demanded, swinging his face around and banging it on a piece of equipment hanging from the ceiling. Lulu liked seeing him knocked out, but she also knew that Darla could be more dangerous without an adult supervising her.

"Yeah, Gill! Teach her a lesson!" Lulu cheered, but gasped when he landed next to Nemo near the fish tools. There wasn't enough water for him to keep breathing. He seemed to be talking to Nemo about something. And then he leapt onto the dentist tools again, causing Lulu's heart to stop for many scary moments. But her eyes worked so that she could see Nemo going down the drain and away from the humans. Just as she was beginning to think that he wasn't going to last much longer without being under water, the dentist came to and lowered Gill back into the tank.

"Is he gonna be okay, Gill?" Gurgle asked worriedly, and Lulu smiled at him, pleased to see that he was capable of feeling positive stress.

"Don't worry. All drains lead to the ocean," Gill reminded them as they watched Darla getting splashed in the face by a steam of water…that was the definition of sweet revenge. Lulu loved it when plans came together…but she also loved the sweet surprises that came along as little rewards for their efforts.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_Oh, by the way, if I see Shrek in the swamp, I will tell him that you all said HI!_


	18. Chapter 18

**I hate my parents right now. :( But whatever. Let's see what happens next! Oh, by the way, I have been getting a lot of requests for more Dory…rest assured, she will make an appearance later in the story. ;)**

**Alicia—First things first: you and Nigel are going to go return Marlin and Dory to the ocean. Hey, guess who you reference in this chapter? ;)**

**Hearts Aglow—I don't mind! It's okay! There are PLENTY in this chapter, I promise!**

**Princess LaLaBlue—Dory is one of my favorite characters, too. And I love Nigel too, but not as much as Gill, ha hah. But we do get to know more about Nigel here, including his childhood. I'm sorry that I made you cry. *hugs* But this chapter will be sad and funny! Two for the price of one!**

Chapter Eighteen

It seemed that hours had passed since they had been kicked out of the dentist's office, and Alicia wondered if they would ever try going back there again. And even if the dentist didn't mind too much, would they be able to face any of the members of the Tank Gang? But now was not the time to be thinking about that. She landed next to Nigel by the ocean, and watched as he lowered his head into the water, carefully releasing the two famous fish from the other side of the world. "I'm…I'm so sorry about your boy. Truly, I am," Nigel whispered before flying away. Alicia stayed by the water a few minutes longer. No words were said, but she exchanged sad looks with the fish before they retreated into the waters. And she went off to find Nigel and talk with him. But what was there to talk about? What could be said after they had failed to deliver a father to his son? No, never mind that. They had gotten Marlin to Nemo. But Nemo was dead and gone.

* * *

Nigel was sitting on top of the lighthouse. Nobody was there, looking out for the fish that had been found. Alicia joined him and cleared her throat to alert him to her presence. "Nigel, are you going to be okay?" He didn't answer her. "We did everything that we could. And it was the right thing. That matters."

"So why didn't we save him?" He asked flatly, glaring at the water.

"We were too late. And these things happen. I don't think he had enough breathing space in that bag, or maybe Darla had already shaken him up a little. Or maybe it was something else—"

"If only I had gotten there faster," he whispered, blinking back the tears that he was trying to hide from Alicia. But she saw them anyway. "Y-you know, when I was a little kid, Maria and I watched our brother die. He was just eating and then he started shaking. Then he was just…gone. Think the humans called it a seizure when they found the nest. They probably would have taken me and Maria to a zoo if we hadn't flown away." He sighed. "Nemo reminds me a lot of my brother. Why did they have to be here if they were just going to leave anyway? It makes no sense!" He was so frustrated that he kicked off a loose brick from the side of the lighthouse. It landed beneath them on some rocks, where it shattered into a million smaller pieces.

"Life makes no sense," Alicia shrugged. "We are all part of the circle of life, and we have to understand it as best as we can." Nigel stiffened a little, but nodded his head, impressed and deeply moved by her reasoning. He moved closer to her, and she draped a wing around his shoulders for comfort. And they sat in silence for a very long time, just looking out at the ocean.

"Hey, hey, hey, you two!" Gerald's voice rang out cheerfully, and Alicia groaned when he landed next to her, dropping a few dead crabs on the dock. "Hey, what's with all the long faces? I brought food for the celebration! This is a happy occasion, so don't have long faces! You got Nemo back with his dad!"

"He didn't get back in the water," Alicia explained, a few tears escaping her eyes. "At least, he didn't when he was alive."

"What do you mean? Is Nemo…is Nemo dead?" Gerald gulped.

And something inside of Alicia's head snapped, and she turned to the clueless bird with a false, cheery grin on her face that faded as she kept talking. "Why, yes he is, Gerald. He has passed on. That fish is no more. He has ceased to be. He has expired and gone to meet his maker. He's a stiff, bereft of life! He rests in peace! He's pushing up daisies! His metabolic processes are now history! He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket! He's shuffled off the mortal coil! Run down the curtain and joined the invisible choir! HE IS AN EX-FISH!"

"In other words…he's sleeping with the fishes?" Gerald cracked, trying to get rid of the tension, and then let out an audible gulp when Alicia shot him a deadly glare. She was about to do something truly awful to him, but—

"Don't think that you're going to get away from what you almost did to the little guy's dad and his friend earlier," Nigel interrupted with a dangerously soft voice. And Alicia glared even more. She had almost forgotten that Gerald had tried to eat Marlin and Dory. "I know just what you're going to have to do to make up for it." And Alicia saw the ghost of a smile on his face, and she nearly smiled in relief. They would mourn for now. But there would be a time later, and they would live a normal life with the guys in the Tank Gang.

And Alicia knew one thing was for sure: they may not have succeeded in getting Nemo out of the tank and back with his father, but they would not fail the Tank Gang.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_Newborn pelicans do get off to a rough start and face dangers of siblicide, parent abuse, and seizures that are related to being fed by their parents. Ninety-five percent of pelicans survive breeding, and unfortunately, Nigel's brother was a part of the unlucky five percent. _

_So there was some back-story for Nigel and Maria, as well as some comedy at the end with Gerald. I don't know why, but I love tormenting that guy._


	19. Chapter 19

**All right, then. Today was kind of boring…I guess things are going to get interesting in about a week when I go on my retreat. I'm going shopping for the stuff needed for it tomorrow, so that'll be fun, I guess.**

**Hearts Aglow—Oh, don't worry about spelling errors in the reviews. It's totally okay. I love the Nostalgia Critic, too! And I was writing the last chapter, and I thought about his review of The Room, and I thought, "Hey, why not put that speech in here for comedic reasons, ha hah?"**

**Alicia—I feel so bad for giving him a dark past…I think that reading too much angst-y fan fiction has had a bad effect on me. Thanks for reviewing!**

Chapter Nineteen

Lulu loved lucid dreams: the dreams in which the dreamer was aware that he or she was dreaming. They gave her a source of inspiration and a way to satisfy her fan girl desires. She was having one right now. "Oh, Sesshomaru…you didn't have to kill Kagura for me," she said sleepily, turning over onto her side. "The tumor in her forehead would have done her in anyway." She was also known for talking in her sleep, and her voice attracted the attention of Deb, who happened to be swimming by.

"Who is Sesshomaru?" She asked, waking Lulu up. The Moorish idol scowled at having another wonderful dream interrupted, but widened her eyes at Deb's question.

"Oh, no, was I talking in my sleep again?" She asked. Deb nodded, and then repeated her question. Lulu sighed as she tried to think of a way to explain an anime character to a fish. Then her eyes landed on the television in the waiting room, and she pointed a fin at it. "Do you see that weird box that the humans like to look at? It has moving pictures on it that talk. Sesshomaru is a guy that I have such a huge crush on, but he only appears on a few of the moving pictures."

Rather than question how a fish from the ocean would have such a vast knowledge on the human lifestyle and what they looked at for entertainment, Deb teased, "Well, I think that the crush you have on Gill is huger!"

"Hey!" Lulu exclaimed, blushing. "Who says that I like Gill?"

"Well, you just did," Deb giggled. "And your cheeks are a dead giveaway. But Flo told me that she saw you staring at Gill with big, sappy eyes. It is so adorable!"

"Speaking of Gill, where is he? And where is everyone else?" Lulu added, hoping to change the subject.

"They're all looking at the thing-a-ma-bob that the dentist put in our tank," Deb answered. "Gill is going to try to find a way to break it so that we can get the tank dirty. So Peach has been looking through the manual, trying to read as much as he can." She rolled her eyes. "The dentist is one of those guys that likes to take his precious time when he reads. He spends about five minutes on each page!"

"It's better than not being able to read at all," Lulu retorted, causing Deb to flush.

But then she chuckled. "Touché, great comeback," she complimented. "That's right, Peach is the only one who can read."

"I can, too," Lulu added, and Deb gasped.

"No way! I've always wanted to read, but I never took the time to teach myself…or Flo, that dumb copycat."

"Ask Peach to help you," Lulu suggested. "And I'll help you learn, too. We can start whenever you want…but I'd prefer to start here, with the manual," she smirked as they joined the gang by Peach's side of the tank. He was reading the manual to the Aqua Scum, which was opened to the pages on how to replace batteries, possible side effects, and what to do if not completely satisfied with the performance of the Aqua Scum. "Boring stuff," Lulu whispered to Deb after scanning these pages. But Gill didn't hear her.

"What does it say, Peach?" He called up.

"Um, this could be a problem," the starfish responded, not taking his eyes away from the open manual. "There's supposed to be a lifetime guarantee, meaning that there's no way that this can be broken, damaged, or destroyed."

"That's what humans say about a machine built by the same humans," Gill scoffed. "We'll find a way to break it."

"Okay, and then there's problem number two," Peach added hastily. "There's a return policy. If it breaks during the first month, the company will replace it for free and throw in this neat-looking toy castle that can be used as a decoration here."

"They must be really confident about their stupid product," Lulu said, glancing at Gill, who looked unfazed by this.

"So we'll wait about a month before we break it. That's not a big deal. It'll give us more time to plan our escape and find flaws in it."

"But it gives us more time to be scanned and…examined!" Gurgle yelped when the scanner shot out of the machine and the robotic voice stated the basic facts about the aquarium life. "I hate this!"

"Oh, for crying out loud," Lulu shouted, staring at him. "You really need to stop being such a perfectionist. You are going to have to if you want to get back in the ocean." She paused for a moment, thinking. "All of us will, for that matter." She began thinking about their many curiosities, from Bubbles' obsession with Bubbles to Deb's conversations with her "sister". She knew that everything would be different when they went into the ocean…she didn't want for it to be a huge shock. But as she looked at them, she became determined to help them adjust to their new life. But Lulu knew that this was going to take a lot of time, energy, and patience.

She was ready for the challenge. And besides, she thought, smiling, this would give her more time to be with Gill.

And maybe if she was lucky, the dentist would show a few episodes of Inuyasha. And hopefully they would have clips of Sesshomaru.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_


	20. Chapter 20

**Good news: LULU PASSED HER CLASSES! And I thought I was going to fail. Let's celebrate with the dance of joy! Bad news: well, you already know that this update has been super late, and for that I apologize. But I just started a Matrix story, and packing for the retreat was more time-consuming than I thought it would be. But as a special treat…I'm updating my Roger Rabbit story tonight!**

**greatbigsealover44—I freaking hate that bitch, ha hah. I think I'll go watch some Inuyasha. *goes to YouTube and freaks out* WHAT? Video removed by user? How DARE YOU REMOVE MY INUYASHA? Okay…YouTube, you are going down…**

**KaylaKissesKangaroos—Oh, don't worry about it. I have updated! Thanks for reviewing!**

**PrincessLaLaBlue—I know, I always wondered how she could read, too. Maybe we'll find that out later. ;) In answer to your question, Alicia and I have talked about an Inuyasha story, but we also have plans for adventures in: Monsters INC, Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Simpsons, Land Before Time, The Wizard of Oz, and Kung Fu Panda.**

Chapter Twenty

When Alicia woke up, she was feeling refreshed in spite of the sadness that lingered over the ocean in light of Nemo's death. She hadn't slept well since the search for the little guy had begun, and now that it was over…sleep was good. She hoped that Nigel was feeling well enough to talk to her about what had happened. She set off to find him, and found him by the lighthouse again, still staring out at the ocean. "Have you been here all night?" She asked, concern apparent in her voice. He nodded, and she noticed the circles under his eyes. He needed more rest than she did, she noted wryly as she wrapped a wing around his shoulders. He jumped at the contact. "You should get some sleep," she said gently. "It isn't healthy to stay up all night and do nothing." He didn't answer her, and Alicia racked her brains for something to say to him. What could she say to someone who was suffering from so many past tragedies, including the most recent one? She finally settled on speaking the one thing that had been bothering her. "We should drop by the dentist's place today and talk with the Gang," she suggested, knowing that this would probably be the closest thing to a funeral Nemo would get from them all.

"What will they say to us? What will we say to them?" He demanded in a strained voice. "Are you sure that they'll still want our help after this incident?"

"The only thing worse than talking to them about it is not seeing them again and having them die inside that glass box," she pointed out. After considering this, he nodded in agreement.

"You lead the way," he said at last, and Alicia nodded, spread her wings, and took off.

"Hi, Alicia!" Lulu greeted cheerfully when the two pelicans landed in their usual place. Diver Dan had canceled his morning appointments and gone to visit a doctor in regards to the purplish bruise that was starting to form on his forehead, so the birds were not in danger of being spotted.

"Hey, everyone, Nigel and Alicia are here!" Peach alled out, also in a bright, chipper mood.

"I think that you're taking what happened better than we are," Alicia muttered in response. "I can't believe that he's dead."

"What are you talking about?" Lulu laughed. "Nemo is alive. He got flushed down some drain, and all of the drains lead to the ocean."

"But—but—but…I saw him! He was dead, the little guy was dead!" Nigel stammered, and the other fish laughed as they joined Lulu by the tank wall.

"We really must have scared you, huh, Nigel?" Bloat teased.

"He was faking it," Gill explained calmly. "And he's a better actor than all of us combined! The kid's got more in him that I ever did when I was his age." Nigel's shock faded into relief, but then turned to mild anger and frustration as the fish continued to laugh.

"I'm so glad that some of us are having a good laugh at my expense," he remarked before flying away.

"Aw, c'mon, Nigel, don't be like that!" Bloat called after him, but both he and Alicia were gone by them. Lulu shot him a glare.

"Day One of the Tank Gang Rehabilitation begins…tomorrow," she quietly noted, making a mental note of her statement.

* * *

"Oh, Nigel, don't be mad at them!" Alicia cried out, chasing after the leader of the flock. "They were just teasing! We're all happy to know that Nemo is alive, right? Be happy, too!" Nigel huffed as he landed by the dock. He angrily caught a fish in his mouth and swallowed it whole, but then softened his expression as he stared at his reflection in the water.

"You're right," he said, looking at her and smiling. "And I'm sorry if I did take it out on you. It's not your fault…"

"It's nobody's fault! He's alive!" Alicia cheered. "We should tell the others the good news!"

"Hey, Gerald, guess what? Nemo is alive after all! The little guy got flushed down the drain! Isn't that great?"

"Does this mean that I don't have to go back and feed the seagulls tonight?" Gerald asked hopefully.

"No way," Alicia snapped. "You still tried to eat Marlin and Dory, remember?"

"But I was hungry!" He whined.

"Next time, don't think with your stomach," Nigel shouted, and Alicia nearly fell into the water as she laughed.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_


	21. Chapter 21

**Hello, everyone, today is the day I leave. I have a few hours of school left, then I am out of here! I'll miss you all!**

**Alicia—I was never a big fan of Tweety, either. I always liked Wile E. Coyote more.**

**PrincessLaLaBlue—I'm guessing you're a fan of Mystery Science Theater, too? It's like my obsession, ha hah. I was the one who introduced Alicia to it, and I am so glad I did. It sucks that this site doesn't have a section for MST3K.**

**KaylaKissesKangaroos—I don't mind random reviews, lol. That's cool about getting your tongue pierced! I am going on a swamp retreat with the members of a club that I'm in. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon, but I won't be around during the evening, because I'll be at the symphony with my parents.**

**Guest—Yes, there is a Roger Rabbit story called The Fleischer Files. Be sure to check it out, and don't forget to review!**

Chapter Twenty-One

Originally Lulu had resolved to begin the rehabilitation with Deb by gradually convincing her that her sister did not exist. But when she woke up, she found the majority of the fish puzzling over the Aqua Scum, including Deb and Flo. She decided to spend some time by herself, and she swam off to a corner behind the plastic volcano, reflecting on this strange feeling in her gut. She felt like she was expecting something to happen, but she didn't know what it was. She kept thinking that Gill would know, but she was too shy to ask him about it. She was relieved when Deb finally pulled herself away from the rest of the gang and approached her for a small pep talk.

"Hey, Lulu," Deb called out softly. "You know, when it's that time of the year, you can always talk to me—"

"Or Flo," she interrupted.

"No, Flo can't keep her mouth shut about these things. She was the one who saw you looking at Gill with big dreamy eyes!"

"Was I really?" She blushed. Deb laughed.

"It's not hard to see," she teased. "And Gill is such a sweetie, but if he won't admit anything, don't worry about it. He rarely tells us how he really feels about everything."

"Or it could be that he doesn't feel the same about me," Lulu pointed out glumly, deciding that there was no point in trying to hide her feelings now.

"If love blinds you completely, then I'm not sure that I want to find Mr. Right," Deb chuckled. Lulu gazed at her questioningly. "Gill is nuts about you, Lulu. I can totally tell. Do you know what he was thinking when he asked for us to 'think dirty thoughts'?" The blush on Lulu's cheeks darkened.

"So what should I do?" She wondered, and Deb bit her lip as she thought.

"In this case, I wouldn't try anything until we get back in the ocean. That's what he wants, and there will be more room for raising children." She paused for a moment, letting Lulu think about whether or not Gill even wanted to become a father, and if he did, what kind of father he would be. "Hey, can you keep a secret?" She didn't wait for Lulu to answer. "Flo doesn't want to go back to the ocean. She wants to stay here in the tank."

"Are you going to let her?" Lulu asked with surprise. "Why does she want to stay here?"

"I think that she's scared of going away from here," Deb confessed. "She's used to the humans by now." She sighed sadly. "I think I'll let her stay. I love her to death, and I don't want to make her sad at all. So if this will make her happy, then she can stay."

"Bubbles, the bubbles, I need to get my bubbles!" Bubbles' voice echoed, and the girls gave a start and turned to see that he had been hiding in some plants, along with Bloat. Gurgle, and Jacques.

"You're all creeps!" Deb shrieked, glaring at the Peeping Toms. "How long have you been watching us?"

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Lulu demanded.

"Nope," Bloat grinned, and Lulu rolled her eyes.

"Go help Gill with the Aqua Scum," she suggested. "Watch the dentist. Count ladybugs. Just leave us alone!" There was such wrath in her voice that they didn't hesitate to obey, but as they swam away, Gurgle asked, "What's a ladybug?"

"Hey, Deb, you said that you could talk to me during 'that time of the year'? What time of the year are you talking about?" Lulu wondered.

Deb looked surprised. "You mean, you haven't…this is the…oh, never mind, it's not my business. But I thought that you'd know by now. I've known that this was coming for weeks now."

"What are you talking about?" Lulu demanded. And the pieces fell into place when she received her answer…but that didn't stop the gasp of surprise and slight embarrassment that escaped her mouth.

"Mating season, of course…"

* * *

_Review, please! :)_


	22. Chapter 22

**Sorry that this chapter took so long, but when I got back from the trip yesterday, I only had an hour to prepare for the symphony. But daily updates have returned, I promise. And for those of you who wanted more of Dory in this story…don't worry, she will return! (Hey, did I just make a rhyme?) Also, I strongly recommend that everyone who has been following the fan girls saga looks up a television show called Mystery Science Theater 3000.**

**Princess LaLaBlue—I love Mystery Science Theater, too! What are your favorite episodes? I have too many to count! And I totally agree about Gill being a good father…we're going to find out more about the mating rituals of the Moorish idol later in the story, LOL.**

**Hearts Aglow—I know, I couldn't resist…I think that I'm becoming absolutely scandalous with my writing.**

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Mating season?" Lulu echoed, staring at Deb.

"Like I said earlier, you and Gill will have plenty of time to get to plan your new life together," she continued happily, oblivious to how increasingly uncomfortable Lulu was becoming. "After all, we have at least one more month in the tank!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone!" Lulu interrupted.

"What's a phone?" Deb asked.

"It's that noisy thing that humans use to talk to each other over long distances, but that's not important right now," Lulu said dismissively. "But here's what does matter. I won't deny that I like Gill," she said, lowering her voice. "Still, that doesn't mean that we're going to start making babies anytime soon." Her eyes narrowed. "How long have you been the tank's matchmaker?"

"Since Gill started liking you," she answered. "And that happened the day you and Nemo came to the tank. Love at first sight," she remarked dreamily.

"Can we at least focus on getting out of here before we plan our wedding?" Lulu said, changing the subject.

"Well, that depends on whether or not I can plan the wedding," Deb teased. "Because I know the perfect places to have the ceremony!"

"Oh, shut up," Lulu said, playfully smacking her with a fin. "You've never even been to the ocean! So how would you know?"

"You know how we all used to be in pet stores before we were here?"

"Yeah."

"Before the dentist brought me here, I shared a tank with a family of angelfish. They were born in the ocean, and they told me about their favorite places to go, and I've always wanted to visit them."

"Was one of them a little blue angelfish, like the one that was with Nemo's dad?" Lulu asked, her eyes widening.

"I didn't see any angelfish," Deb admitted. "I was a little preoccupied with saving Nemo's life and teaching that Darla brat a lesson. And I think she learned it, too," she muttered. This was true. The dentist hadn't said a single word about his niece to any of his patients since the incident in the office. And apparently he had engaged in an argument with his sister, Darla's mother, over what had happened. He complained about it to his receptionist, saying that his sister was a witch that spoiled her kids too much. Lulu and the others shivered when they thought about Darla having siblings. "But yeah, I guess you could say they were little and blue. The dad and mom I don't remember too much, but they had three sons and a daughter—this sweet baby girl. The sons were named…um, what were they named? Matthew, Jonathon, and David, I think."

"What about the girl?"

"She got into a fight with one of the older fish. It left her traumatized, the poor thing. She could barely remember everything that happened to her after five minutes. Her name was Dory."

* * *

Alicia was alone by the docks, hunting for food by herself. Nigel had gone off to spread the news about Nemo being returned to the ocean, but she was growing a little sick of all the peace and quiet. She was relieved when she spotted two familiar faces flying up ahead: Maria and Nicole. She waves at them, and they joined her and began talking about the latest developments with Nemo and other news for the flock. "Hey, Alicia, guess what? It's almost that time of the year!" Maria announced.

"What time of the year?" Alicia asked.

"We're all going to be migrating! And Nicole told me that she heard from Nigel that you couldn't wait to leave!"

"I would like a change of scenery," Alicia explained, "but I thought that we had a while before it was time," she said, recalling one of the conversations she had had with Nigel.

"Well, I think that we're more in a hurry to get it out of the way this year," Nicole explained. "We've had a few others join us, not just you, so there's going to be plenty of competition."

"And those poor newbies are going to be all over the three of us," Maria bragged, smoothing a few of the feathers in her wings. "You can have your pick of the guys, Alicia…but remember this: I call keep-offsies on Hubie!" Maria declared.

"And Gerald is mine!" Nicole chimed in.

"Don't worry, you can keep them," Alicia said, biting back a laugh as she thought of the gawky loser that had fed seagulls for punishment and the cocky stranger that she barely said a word to. "So, when do we leave?"

"A month or so," Maria said casually.

"Wow, isn't it a little too early to be planning for this?" Alicia asked. She remembered a commercial on one of her old VHS tapes for Disney World that had two little boys packing for their trip. It ended with one boy saying to the other, "We'll be leaving in about three weeks!"

"There's no time like the present!" Nicole quoted, and they laughed.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_


	23. Chapter 23

**I got the idea for this chapter today, and I just had to put it in here. So this is a little fluffy, but we do get a quick look at some potential escape plans…as well as some more history for Dory and Darla's BIG BROTHER! Will he be as awful as his little sister? Can you spot the references to other Pixar movies/schools? What are they? Read and review!**

**Alicia—I have no idea. It's possible, because I did own The Lion King on VHS.**

**Princess LaLaBlue—I love that episode of MST3K, too…I could write a whole book dedicated to my favorite episodes of the show! But I LOVE Crow…he's so cute and funny! I fell in love with him the day I saw Swamp Diamonds. It was only my third episode…*sighs fondly***

**Hearts Aglow—LOL! Thanks for reviewing! *hugs***

**greatbigsealover44—I really enjoyed writing that part, ha hah. Thanks for reviewing!**

Chapter Twenty-Three

Lulu had meant to ask Deb more about her encounters with Dory, but things suddenly got interesting around the dentist's place when his nephew appeared with a suitcase in hand, grinning from ear to ear. He wore a T-shirt that said PU on it. The dentist embraced him, laughed, and offered to give him a free teeth cleaning. His nephew accepted this offer. "So, how are things in the States?" The dentist asked as he got to work.

"Pretty good, I think. I passed with honors this semester, so I'm feeling all right about myself."

"That's good, that's good. Made any new friends?"

"Yeah, there's this one guy, Andy. He's pretty cool. He wants to major in psychology and become a pediatrician. Major toy collector, that one is. His girlfriend, Mary, is even worse than he is! She's going to become an author and write about toys and monsters that live in closets!"

"Why not write about teeth or fish?" The dentist joked. "They're much more interesting than silly monsters or some dumb old toys."

"I wonder why you still keep Buzz Lightyear over in the waiting room if he's so boring and silly," the nephew shot back. He stood up from the dentist's chair and walked over to the fish tank, which he examined with a frown. "You really shouldn't keep these fish in here."

"Why not? They're just stupid animals. They don't know the difference between the ocean and the tank."

"That's what you think," Gill hissed, glaring at him and the nephew, who turned and scowled at his uncle.

"What if they had families? Did you ever think about that?" He asked. But he knew the answer to this question, and he left shortly afterwards, promising to visit before the start of a new term. He shot the Tank Gang a look of pity before he walked out the door.

"He's nicer than Darla!" Bubbles commented, stating the obvious.

"Craziness must not run in the family," Bloat snickered. The others joined in the laughter, and Deb turned to Lulu.

"Speaking of families, you were really interested in the angelfish family earlier. Why was that?" Deb asked, having forgotten yet again about Marlin being accompanied by a little blue fish. Lulu sighed and repeated this explanation.

She ended it with, "Dory was the fish with Marlin!"

"How did you know that she was the one?" Deb asked curiously. "You just know so much!"

"Never mind that now," she said quickly. "But what happened to her family? Are they still in the pet store? When was the last time you saw them?"

"Her parents died a few days before I was taken here," Deb recalled. "And her brothers were bought by someone else. At least they all stuck together. But Dory…" she sighed. "Okay, some fish try to bury themselves under the rocks and wait until they die."

"I've known a few from the ocean that tried to do that," Lulu said, thinking back to Gill. She decided not to reveal his secret to Deb. "Dory didn't try to do that at all, did she?"

"No. Her parents did. They tried to hold her down under the rocks. They would take turns…in shifts. I and a couple of the others tried to stop them, but they'd fight back. They'd threaten to choke her to death, stop feeding her, things like that."

"What kind of parents try to bury their own daughter alive?" Lulu asked in a hoarse voice, hardly daring to believe what she was hearing.

"It was awful," Deb whispered, shuddering at the mere memory. "But we took care of them in no time at all."

"What did you do?"

"One night both of her parents fell asleep, and Dory managed to wiggle out from under the rocks. We took her to one side of the tank and built a wall out of rocks, separating her parents from the rest of us. The pet store owner must have realized that not everything was happy in the tank, so he took away the problems: Dory's parents."

Lulu bit her lip so hard that she began to bleed a little. "At any point, did her brothers participate? You know, with trying to kill Dory?"

"No, they didn't. They were against it from the beginning," Deb replied, and Lulu sighed in relief. "I hope that her brothers are okay. They talked about playing dead and getting flushed into the ocean. I hope that they did that."

"Why didn't they do that while you were at the pet store?" Lulu asked, thinking that if they had done that, then they could have taken Dory with them.

"The pet store employees were smart. They could see right through us. They were practically mind readers," Deb explained. "It was creepy!"

"So how did Dory get back in the ocean?" Lulu wondered.

"I have no idea," Deb admitted. "Maybe she can tell us once we meet up with her again," she hinted, and Lulu smiled as they stared up at the Aqua Scum. That blasted thing had just completed another scan of the tank, much to Gurgle's chagrin.

"The batteries are water-proof, so there's nothing we can do to them," Peach complained, quoting pages from the manual. "I think that the best thing to do would be to tear it apart, but I think that would be hard to do."

"Wouldn't it be easier to dismantle it from the inside?" Gill asked. "We could shove some rocks inside and muffle the signals."

"That could work, but the scans would still be thorough," Peach sighed.

"Taking this apart is going to be impossible!" Gurgle whined.

"It's going to be a challenge," Lulu corrected. "Nothing is impossible!" She smiled. "Let's get to work tonight!"

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_Also, for those of you who aren't familiar with the show Mystery Science Theater 3000…you might want to brush up on that, because Alicia and I might be in a fan girls story for that. Here's a brief synopsis, and take plenty of notes, because this will be on the quiz: In the not-too-distant future, a man and his robots are stranded in space and forced to watch terrible movies by evil mad scientists. Each episode is dedicated to them making fun of a new movie. Got that? Okay. Check out episodes on YouTube._

_Why are you not reviewing?_


	24. Chapter 24

**Sorry about not updating for the past few days. Getting more reviews *ahem* would help, I think. But here's a shout-out to the one person who reviewed the last chapter: Alicia, you rock, as usual. Thanks for sending me all that music! I am addicted to "Come". I'm listening to it right now. Also, the new chapter of the Roger Rabbit story will have you and Eddie in it. Keep an eye out for the next update, because it will be soon.**

**Also…WARNING: The author of this story, LuluCalliope, lives in an oppressed society (her house) where the evil overlords (her parents) threaten to take away the time spent to the pursuit of happiness (computer privileges). Updates could get very weird if I lose my Internet privileges, so…yeah. Pray for me and my beloved computer (A.K.A. New Betsy)**

**Also, for the closet fans of My Little Pony…my brother and I might be writing stories for that, given that we officially became fans of the show yesterday. (It has freaking Q from STAR TREK!)**

Chapter Twenty-Four

Alicia was impatient to start migrating, and as a distraction, she would spend every free moment with the Tank Gang, trying to devise their escape. She accompanied Nigel on his little visits, which became restricted to a schedule, as they (and all of the pelicans who had heard of what had happened during the Darla Incident) were now afraid of Diver Dan. Nigel was surprised when she read aloud from the pages of the manual for the Aqua Scum. "I didn't know you could read!"

"Are you surprised?" She teased.

"You're just full of surprises," he remarked, his voice taking on an almost seductive quality that made Alicia giggle and blush. Some of the fish in the tank rolled their eyes and groaned.

"Hey, are you two lovebirds going to help us?" Bloat interrupted. "He brought in a new book today," he continued. "But we can't read it. What does it say on the cover?"

"'The Psychology of Pelicans'," Alicia read aloud. "What is he doing reading a book like that? I thought that he thought that we only hung around here for the quote-unquote 'snacks'!"

"He probably wants to get rid of you after what happened with his precious little angel with the pearly whites," Gurgle said sarcastically as Bubbles dashed off to find his escaping bubbles. "What's he going to do, call the animal control people?"

"Good point," Lulu laughed. "But we still have a problem with escaping."

"None of us want to wait for the rest of the month to get the heck out of here," Gill continued. "And I've already lost track of how much longer we have left."

"I've been keeping track," Peach announced. "It's been three days and four nights since we got the Aqua Scum treatment. We only have to keep up the act for twenty-something more days and nights, and then we can bust this thing wide open."

"Has it really been that short?" Lulu mused, thinking about how funny they were to have lost track after barely a week. "I can't believe that we have WEEKS to go."

"No…you may not have to wait that long," Alicia corrected, pointing with a feathery finger to a small, barely noticeable line of fine print at the bottom of one of the pages. "It also says that if the behavior of the fish within the tank environment becomes bizarre, then an expert will be called in to determine the Aqua Scum's problems."

"What good will expert technicians do for us?" Deb wondered.

"Not much," Bloat replied glumly. "They'll probably install a handy-dandy upgrade or something like that."

"A more advanced scanner, no doubt," Gurgle shuddered.

"What is it with him and scanners?" Lulu asked Deb in a low voice. "Did a scanner kill his family?" She only shrugged as an answer.

"Well, it does say that, but…no, no, no, there's something good," Peach chimed in excitedly, and Lulu read along silently as he read aloud. "'If an expert is called in…uh-huh…yeah…the time spent with the…yadda yadda yadda…okay!' This is great! If an expert is called in to look at it, then the return policy will be shortened!"

"What do you mean?" Bubbles asked, rejoining the conversation after pulling away from the treasure chest of magical bubbles.

"If an expert comes, we'll only have to wait a week before we can break the Aqua Scum!" Lulu realized, causing the others to cheer and sigh happily.

"But what can we do to get the dentist to call in an expert?" Gurgle wondered, and Gill chuckled.

"Remember last time when we were trying to be as dirty as possible?" Deb smirked knowingly at Lulu, who pretended not to notice. Her blushing cheeks said that she managed to hear her anyway. "This time, let's act as strange as possible. Be crazy."

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_And I'm sorry that this chapter is so short. I'm going to start updating FF from school, and right now I'm supposed to be working on an assignment._


	25. Chapter 25

**Attention, everyone! Alicia and I have been talking a lot about the next installment in the fan girls' series and we can't decide which adventure to go on next! Go to my profile and vote in the poll to choose which stories you want to see! And I'll explain more about the Ultimate Villain Showdown later on…let me tell you, it's going to be fabulous! And as for the problem with the Evil Overlords (a.k.a. Mom and Dad), they caught me watching MLP. I convinced Mom that I was doing it as a joke, and Dad…well, Mom wants for me to "talk to him about these things face-to-face" or something like that. So we're going out for lunch tomorrow. Oh, joy bunnies...that should go really well.**

**Alicia—I've been exploiting that line, haven't I? Ha, ha, ha…oh, get ready for the Fish Tale plot to be introduced! It'll be soon!**

**Princess LaLaBlue—I did have a lot of fun writing this chapter, and I have to admit that it's one of my personal favorites. And right now I have one Evil Overlord taken care of…my dad's going to be hard to convince. And if not, I have the school computers on my side!**

**Hearts Aglow—Thanks for being so understanding. I know that this is going to be a tricky time for all of us…if worst comes to worst, then there won't be updates on the weekends. But if I keep my privileges, then the daily updates will continue. I hope you enjoy this one!**

Chapter Twenty-Five

"My head hurts," Lulu complained every five minutes. Her idea of running into the tank walls over and over again didn't seem as ingenious as it did a few hours ago. Now she was feeling stupid…and brain dead. "Gill, we've been doing this all night. Nobody's watching us. Why do we have to do this?"

"Practice makes perfect," he said, chewing on his own plastic skull, as if he was trying to eat it. Lulu was almost half afraid of what the others were doing. Jacques had been so embarrassed by the behavior of his comrades that he had concealed himself in his own tank decoration. He was refusing to come out until the next stage in their plan was ready to commence.

"Do we really need to practice being crazy?" Lulu wondered, remembering a line from one of her favorite Stephen King novels, Misery. _"Psychotics can cope in the world—after a fashion—and sometimes…they get away with some very nasty shit. But there's a borderline between the lands of manageable and unmanageable psychosis…."_

Wait a minute…what was she thinking? Was she honestly comparing the serial killer Annie Wilkes to her new fish friends? No! They were completely different! Yes, they both had mental issues. Yes, they were acting like psychopaths. But Annie had been the real deal! She had killed newborn babies and old, defenseless patients in hospitals. She had chopped off a man's leg and tried to feed him his own thumb. Why was she thinking about her in the tank? Everyone here could manage their own mental health…couldn't they?

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Gurgle shouted, dashing by and interrupting Lulu's train of thought. "DON'T YOU DARE!" Bloat was close on his trail, and he was swimming at such a fast rate that he was leaving a trail of Bubbles, which delighted a certain yellow fish. This was heaven for Bubbles.

"What the heck is your problem?" Deb demanded, swimming between the two and holding them apart. "You're acting like some stupid kids!" Bubbles saw that the path of bubbles had ceased, and he swam away from the argument in search of others.

"HE'S GOING TO EAT ME!" Gurgle screamed in Deb's face.

"You don't have to yell!" She shouted back.

"It was just a joke, you spoilsport!" Bloat huffed. "If you can't take a joke and act crazy to trick the dentist, then just hide in the back of the tank until the rest of us are gone!"

"It's not nice to call people names, you moron!"

"Shush! Here he comes!" Peach interrupted as the dentist walked inside. He paused to get his coffee, giving the others plenty of time to resume their routine of acting crazy. The dentist noticed and stood in front of the aquarium, scratching his head and sipping his coffee.

"What have I told you? The animals have gone mad!" He said to himself. "First the pelicans, and now the fish…what is this world coming to?" He shook his head and walked over to his secretary's desk.

"Hey, Barbara, can you call the Aqua Scum blokes? Ask for Gerri to come by in about two hours."

"Victory!" Lulu cheered, rubbing her bruised forehead with a fin. "Can I stop running into the wall now?"

"Nope!"

"Aw, man..."

* * *

Gerri was an old man, thin and pale. He had bony fingers, fake teeth, and eyes that were huge behind his spectacles. He was so serious about his work that Lulu wondered if everyone lost their sense of humor as they got older. "So…do you do this kind of thing often?" The dentist questioned, watching as Gerri unpacked scary-looking tools.

"When I'm not playing chess or repairing dolls, then I'm usually at work, doing this."

"Right then, how long do these things usually take? I have an appointment in about twenty minutes," the dentist said, glancing down at the watch on his wrist.

"You can't rush art," Gerri said dramatically, reaching into the tank with long, bony fingers and removing the dreaded piece of equipment. "Each case is different," he continued, opening the back of the gadget and removing the batteries. "Sometimes it can be as simple as changing the batteries, or it can be as complex as installing the latest upgrades. This isn't the case. You've gotten the most recent model," he noted with approval.

"I never knew that art could be so boring," Lulu complained, lazily swimming over to Gill, already sick of watching this pretentious mechanic fuss over the source of their misery.

"Are you paying attention?" He asked, and she jumped to attention, keeping both eyes on the dentist and on Gerri. "Every little detail could be helpful in our escape," he went on to say. "Don't forget anything!"

"I won't, I promise," she said, and Gill smiled at her.

"So, what seems to be the problem, then?" The dentist asked after what seemed like HOURS of slow, careful work. He had already cancelled three of his appointments to allow this guy to do his work.

"I don't think that it's anything too serious," Gerri explained. "The fish probably aren't adjusting as quickly to the new decoration as most do."

"Oh, please," Gurgle scoffed. "That's not a decoration. It's an abomination!"

"Just give them time," he concluded. "And wrap blue paper around the outside of the tank. It'll let them think that they're in the ocean. That'll soothe their minds."

"But then the customers won't be able to see them," the dentist complained, folding his arms.

"That's your problem, isn't it? Choose between having a healthy business or a healthy tank environment. And if you can't have both, then get rid of the pets. They didn't evolve with the rest of nature so that they could come on land. They wanted to stay in the water." He shook hands with the dentist and bade him good day before walking out. The dentist's polite smile faded as soon as he was alone in his office and he walked over to the tank and stared at each fish mournfully.

"What am I going to do with you guys?" He muttered, massaging his temples with two fingers. He just sat there in front of the aquarium, watching the fish play dumb and swim in circles, every once in a while bumping into the tank glass or trying to eat each other. After taking a deep breath, he called over to Barbara, "Can you do me another favor, sweetie? Place an ad out in the papers. I'm selling the fish."

"Hooray!" Bubbles cheered as the others stared at each other in shock. "No more dentist!"

"No, no, he can't do that!" Lulu cried. "Don't you get it, Bubbles? We'll be separated!" That shut the yellow fish up quickly.

"All for one, and one for all," Bloat added. "We're sticking together!"

"But we can't do that if we're trying to eat each other, can we?" Gurgle hissed.

"Oh, can't you take a joke?"

"Where I come from, the jokes are funny!" Gurgle snapped.

"All right, that's enough!" Gill shouted. "We're breaking this thing open tonight! Because if we don't," he added in a low voice, "then I'll lose my mind." He started to swim away, back to his toy skull for some planning.

"But he started it," Bloat protested, pointing his fin at Gurgle.

"WE DON'T CARE!" The rest of the gang seemed to shout in unison. Gurgle and Bloat were silent for the rest of the day.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_Vote in my poll, please! :)_

_Quick bit of trivia: Although Gurgle isn't the ideal meal for Bloat, Jacques is. Jacques and Bloat should have been kept in separate tanks in the movie._


	26. Chapter 26

**Okay, so based on the poll votes, the next fan girl story will be either Kung Fu Panda or Star Wars. And for those of you wondering what the Ultimate Villain Showdown is…it's basically Freddy vs. Jason vs. Michael vs. Leatherface vs. Jigsaw vs. Hannibal vs. Chucky vs. Ghostface vs. Pinhead…did I leave anyone out? No, I don't think so. Also, I don't think that my Internet and phone privileges will be taken away…my dad seems to have calmed down, so I think we're safe. Sorry for the false alarm, everyone. Enjoy the story!**

**Hearts Aglow—I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Alicia—When I was younger, I actually couldn't tell that Gerri from the short and Gerri from the second Toy Story movie were the same! I thought that their designs were different. But when I was writing this chapter, I thought, hey, why not bring him back? I wonder if they'll use him again. Thanks for reviewing!**

Chapter Twenty-Six

Night came quicker than they thought it would, and the fish were uncharacteristically nervous. It helped that Alicia and Nigel were there to help as much as they could. "I guess that those books on our bird brains were a waste, huh?" Nigel muttered after he was told that the dentist was planning to sell them all. "Not much point in figuring out how to keep us away from the fish if he doesn't have fish, right?"

"Maybe that's another reason for why he wants to get rid of us," Peach shrugged. "We'll never really know."

"Do we want to know?" Gill asked. "All I want to know is how to get this darn thing removed from the wall." He and a few of the others were struggling to take the Aqua Scum off of the tank wall, but they were having little to no success. Alicia got an idea, but she knew that it was a very bad one. But hey, sometimes bad ideas are the only ones you have.

"Cover your ears," she told the fish before tapping on the wall with her bill. It only took one loud bang to get the fish to listen to what she said. It took a few smart raps, but the Aqua Scum slid off and settled onto the rocks on the bottom.

"Nice work," Nigel complimented. Alicia didn't hear him; she was too busy apologizing for the bleeding eardrums she might have caused from touching the glass.

"Okay…now what?" Bloat asked, running a fin over the surface of the thing. All eyes turned to Gill, who actually backed away slowly.

"I'm open to suggestions," he said weakly. "To be honest, I'm surprised that we kind of made it this far."

"Well, I have one," Lulu said, saving him from even more awkward tension. "I noticed that when he was replacing the batteries, he was really quick about it."

"So?"

"I think that replacing the batteries in the Aqua Scum is like replacing the batteries in the remote that controls the box with moving pictures. You have to be quick about it, or you have to reprogram everything. And the dentist will think that because the batteries were just replaced that they can't be the problem."

"But won't the dentist notice that they're missing?" Bubbles asked, staring sadly at the treasure chest. He was reluctant to leave his favorite part of the tank, but Lulu did assure him that there would be plenty of other bubbles in the ocean, if not more. She was initially disappointed that she didn't get a chance to help the others cope with the idea of switching to a new environment, but she decided that taking the new knowledge in at once was better than doing it gradually.

"No, we'll put them back in so that he won't notice anything different. He'll probably think that Gerri did something wrong when he was fiddling around with it," Lulu explained, mentally thanking her father for teaching her the basics about the fish tank lifestyle.

"How are we going to open this thing?" Gurgle whined, trying to open the battery case. Lulu knew that the best way to do it would be to loosen the screws with a screwdriver, but they didn't have one in the tank and, as far as she knew, nobody put tools in glass boxes containing marine life. She looked around quickly for something that could be used as an alternative to a screwdriver, but she found none. She knew that they couldn't force it open with their fins. The only one who could probably do it was—

"Jacques! Can you help me?" Lulu asked. "I need for you to turn the things here…and there…over here…and there." He followed her directions, and the case floated off, revealing two water-proof batteries resting side-by-side.

Softly humming the music for Mission Impossible to herself, she removed the batteries, waited a good, long five minutes, and then reinserted them into their proper place. With help from Deb and Jacques, she tightened the screws back onto the battery case. Everyone exhaled a sigh of relief…except for the usual stick in the mud.

"Well, that was anti-climatic. Now how are we going to get it back up on the tank wall?" Gurgle demanded.

"If you shut up, then I promise not to strangle you as soon as we get to the open water," Deb told him in a falsely cheery voice. He didn't say a word for the rest of the night, keeping his mouth tightly shut. "Now, before I was so RUDELY interrupted, I was going to ask if anyone had anything sticky." She continued in her normal voice. Gurgle rolled his eyes, as if to point out that she hadn't been saying anything for him to interrupt.

"Do we even have to put it up on the wall?" Peach asked.

"Yeah, that's a good point," Lulu nodded. "The dentist might think that there's something wrong with the material or the metal or whatever it is that's holding this thing together." Shooting the Aqua Scum a final look of disgust, she brushed it aside, knocking it behind the volcano and out of their sight.

"So…we did it? That's it?" Bloat asked. Gill nodded, a small smile breaking out across his face. And then everyone exploded, cheering. "We did it!"

"Congrats, everyone!" Nigel applauded. "We'll keep an eye on the waters tomorrow, and we'll be around!" With that, he and Alicia took off.

"And now we wait," Gill smiled. "I can just taste the ocean!"

"Now we wait," Lulu echoed. She smiled at him. "Really, was there ever any doubt about our escape?" She swam away, not giving him a chance to answer, but he did stare blankly after her. And as she and the others spent the rest of the night deep in thought, her mind wandered to Dory and her family. She hoped that everything would work out for them in the end. It had to. It was what she deserved after all of the help she had given Marlin and Nemo…

* * *

_Review, please! :)_

_Vote in the poll, please! :)_


	27. Chapter 27

**God, I am SO SORRY. So much crazy crap has happened to me…BUT…the daily updates are back for sure, I swear! Every time there is a gap in the daily updates, the Roger Rabbit story will be updated. And right now that story is almost complete. This one, on the other hand, is just getting started!**

**Also, the results from the poll are in. So far Monsters Inc. and Kung Fu Panda are in the lead. Both stories are likely to be released soon, given that the next official installments in both franchises are coming out next year. So what I'm going to do is this. The poll will be kept open on my profile for the next few days. If I get more votes, then I will announce the official winner later. If there is a tie between two or three movies, then I will let you, the reviewers, vote in your reviews. You can only vote for one movie. If you vote for more than one, I will only count the first one that is listed. But we have plenty of time to worry about that. In the meantime…how are you?**

**Alicia—I was cracking up when I watched The Lorax because they were using that music, too. Thanks for reviewing! Oh, and also, I am singing "I'm a Little Yellow Fish", just like you requested, haha.**

**Princess LaLaBlue—I'm glad you are still enjoying the story. And I loved the last chapter of your story, it was so funny!**

**greatbigsealover44—Aw, thanks! Well, here's the big escape moment. And then later…Dory will SPOILERS I AM SO SPOILING RIGHT NOW and then I will SPOILERS DON'T READ THIS and then Gill will be all like NO WAY AM I TELLING YOU YET.**

Chapter Twenty-Seven

They had finally, actually done it. They had escaped. Lulu was in the water now, in a bag right next to Gill's, and the two of them were speechless, almost reluctant to believe the facts. But they had done it. The hardest part had been rolling across the street and past the cars. Deb had been freaked out about getting the contents of her bag crushed by a tire. She was so frightened that she had forgotten her tearful goodbye to her "sister" back in the tank. There had been so many tearful goodbyes. Bubbles had almost pleaded with Gill, trying to persuade him to take along the treasure chest. He had been sulky when the final answer was a stern "no", but was glad when the dentist realized that the Aqua Scum had broken.

It had taken him a little longer than they would have liked for him to notice, but he did in the end. There were many signs of the malfunctioning machine. First, there were patches of algae growing in random areas around the tank. Second, the Aqua Scum was no longer scanning the environment of the tank and making reports. And third, it had started to make strange noises, none of which were being caused by any of the fish. The dentist had growled in frustration, removed his pets from the tank, and gone into the other room to shout at the Aqua Scum people over this incident. "That Gerri bloke was no good! I want my money back! I'll see you in court, you can be sure of that!"

Lulu had been one of the fish to leave the building, and she could practically hear the dentist talking to his secretary. "Hey, Barbara, I don't understand it! This thing was supposed to have a lifetime guarantee, and then it goes and breaks! I had to clean the whole tank myself!" She giggled quietly, thinking of how shocked he would be when he looked up and noticed that the line of plastic baggies had vanished, leaving puddles of water behind. "Where'd the fish go?" Now she was in the water, shouting words of encouragement at Peach, the last one to be with them.

"That was the shortest red light I have ever seen!" He declared as he joined them in the water, landing on top of the waves with a splash. And as the others cheered, Lulu hummed triumphantly to herself, _"I'm a little yellow fish in the deep blue sea…won't somebody help me? I'm a little yellow fish in the deep blue sea…won't somebody save me?"_ She noticed that a few of the others were giving her odd glances, and she cleared her throat and mumbled, "The humans have weird music. It's catchy. Don't judge me!" She was relieved when Bloat brought up the more important issue: what were they supposed to do now? "I guess we have to wait for Alicia and Nigel to come and free us," Lulu shrugged, beginning to feel slightly nauseous from the bobbing up and down in the water. Could fish, of all things, get seasick?

"They'd better hurry up," Gurgle warned. "The seagulls are circling," he gulped, casting a nervous glance towards the sky. Indeed, a few of the flying rats were gathering, whispering the haunting word of theirs: "Mine?"

"Um, maybe we can chew through the plastic and—"

"These things can't be torn up by fish," Gill said gravely, shooting down Lulu's plan. She pouted. She then started wondering if fish really had teeth…she knew they didn't have uvulas. Humans were the only creatures on earth that had uvulas. And birds didn't have teeth…they always swallowed rocks to digest the food for them. And then they puked their food up for the young ones. Wait, how could that work if they didn't have uvulas? And did fish puke, for that matter? She shook her head clear of these thoughts, angrily scolding herself for getting distracted, and tried coming up with a new plan.

"Can we try swimming down?" She suggested, thinking about how well that had worked for them back in the tank. But she soon discovered that the weight of a single fish would not be enough to bring them down under the waves. They just kept floating up.

"Okay, there's always Plan Poppy," Lulu shrugged.

"What's that?" Gill asked curiously.

"It's an old human tradition," she explained. "I think it's almost a hundred years old. I'll show you how it works." She cleared her throat primly, inhaled deeply, and then…screamed at the top of her lungs, "ALICIA! NIGEL! WHERE ARE YOU? HELP US!"

"But it's not going to do us any good screaming at a time like this!" Gurgle groaned. "Nobody will hear you!" But almost immediately after he said that, he joined her in screaming. "HELP! HELP US!"

Lulu screamed until she almost lost her voice, and then cut herself off to say, "Had this been an actual emergency, then the screams you have just heard would have been followed by many more like it for several hours. This concludes the test of my emergency—"

"I am going to die out here," Deb moaned, pretending to float upside down. "If the seagulls don't get us, then I shall descend into madness."

Lulu laughed. "I think I already have! We're in the ocean, not too far from Godzilla's ancient rival Megalon! But Godzilla spews a mighty fireball and, leaving Tokyo in ruins, returns to the sea from whence he came!" The glances that were directed at this statement would have been hilarious in a different situation, but they weren't here. "I need to stop watching bad monster movies," she sighed, falling into a thoughtful silence for the rest of the hour.

* * *

_So yes, we have finally escaped! Here is the agenda: more Dory, more romance, and the big, big, big scenes that I have been working on since I have started working on this story! Review, please! :)_

_Also, if anybody is interested in listening to the song that I was singing in this chapter, here is a link:_

watch?v=isO4OZoZ8N4


	28. Chapter 28

***Appears wearing a pretty dress and holding an envelope* Ahem! The winner of the First Fan-Picked Fan-Girl Story Contest is… *opens envelope and gasps* Wow…NONE OF THEM! Guess what? IT'S AN INUYASHA STORY! I think that you fans of Inuyasha are going to be super pleased with what I've been writing…it's going to be fabulous! But seriously, the winner of the contest was Kung Fu Panda, so following the Inuyasha story will be a Kung Fu Panda story, with Monsters Inc. not too far behind that. And Alicia, in answer to your question…no, I was not watching Godzilla, ha. The line is actually from an old comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes. Thanks for reviewing! You rock!**

**Okay, also, I'm so sorry for not updating after I promised I would…I've found two ways to make money: one by training and walking a rescue dog my neighbor owns, and another way is to sell old video games to my classmate. So between these two things, my school and other fan girl stories, updates have been weird. But cross my heart and hope to die: DAILY UPDATES WILL RETURN. Starting…tomorrow! **

Chapter Twenty-Eight

It took an eternity, but Alicia finally arrived. "I almost had to wait!" Gurgle pouted when she appeared, hovering over them. "What happened? Where were you?"

"Oh, something," she said, her mind elsewhere. To be honest, her thoughts were with the migrating, which was something that the rest of the pelicans—especially Maria and Nicole—couldn't stop talking about. "Okay," she said, looking at the bags. "This could be a little tricky. And you're not helping at all, you dodos!" She shouted at the seagulls, who only cocked their heads to the side and stared at her.

"Go dodo, go dodo, do that dodo doodad that you dodos do," Lulu hummed, trying and failing to dance inside of her plastic bag. But…after getting more cautious and weary stares from the rest of the Tank Gang, she fell back into her silent phase. She had stayed silent for the past hour, as she had resolved to do, but when that hour ended, she became talkative once more, trying to get rid of the boredom that was slowly falling over the rest of her friends. Most of them were too tired to answer her strange questions or make conversation, and when they did, they only spoke of how they would probably die in their bags, alone in the water.

Alicia only chuckled at the remark, but then sighed as she glanced at the sky, which was becoming dark as the sun set slowly. "Nigel should be here soon. I think that I know what to do to help out. We'll carry the bags over to the dock, and we can free you there." She glared at the seagulls again. "SHOO!" She shouted, trying to scare off the unwanted idiot birds, but they didn't budge. "They may be stupid, but they're determined," she noted, mentally making a new goal, which was to find a way to scare the pesky pigeon-brains. Even ostriches were afraid of something. (But ostriches didn't live in Australia, so she digressed.) "If they start to follow us," she continued, pointing at them, "I'm going to eat them."

"You will not," Lulu snickered.

"Okay. I won't," Alicia admitted, laughing too. "But I wish I could." And then it hit her, out of the blue. Why not trick the seagulls into thinking that the pelicans would actually eat them? They'd be too afraid to come near them again! She shared this idea with Nigel, who joined her and the Tank Gang after a few minutes to more waiting.

"I can't get over how weird you all look in the ocean," he gushed, examining them with wide eyes. "I've seen you in water before and outside of it, but it just feels weird! I don't know what to think about it…but I think that that's a good idea, Alicia," he added, causing her to shrug modestly. "We'll have to try it out later. In the meantime, let's get these fishes out of these…things."

"Can you believe how sick I am of the ocean already?" Gurgle whined as his baggie continued to bob up and down.

"If you don't like it, then you can just LEAVE," Lulu said through gritted teeth, trying hard not to bite his purple head off. She was strongly tempted to tell him how sick she was of him, but decided not to. It would ruin the happiness that they'd feel once they got in the water.

"No, I mean, I'm just sick of the top of the water," he corrected, glaring at the waves. "Once we get out of these bags, I am never going to see the sky again!" Lulu rolled her eyes, but decided that it was time to get everyone focused on what they had been working on for quite some time.

"You said that you could carry us over to the docks and free us there," she reminded Alicia. "But how many bags can you carry at a time?" She estimated around two at a time, and even though they were nearly through with the waiting...they didn't want to wait even more.

Nigel shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. We'll get you all over there and let you go free."

"Just be QUICK about it," Gurgle moaned. Bubbles, it seemed, shared his hatred of the situation, as he was pretending to float upside down and play dead. Every once in a while he complained about the lack of the bubbles inside of his bag. Alicia sighed and picked up his bag in her mouth and flew it over to the dock. Nigel did the same with Lulu's, and this went on for less than ten minutes. Lulu smirked at Gurgle, as if she was trying to ask him whether or not that was really worth complaining about. He avoided making eye contact with her. Using the utmost care, the two pelicans pecked at the plastic bags until fairly sizeable holes appeared in them so that the water and the fish spilled out of them and into the ocean water. The leader of the gang was one of the first ones to be released, but he stayed by the dock for a while longer, chatting with the leader of the pelican flock.

"Thanks for all your help, Nigel," Gill told him earnestly. Lulu sensed an emotional goodbye between the two of them, and turned to Alicia. She wasn't a big fan of long goodbyes, and she was absolutely positive that this was not the last time that they would see each other, so she kept everything short and sweet.

"I'll see you around, Alicia," she smiled at her friend. After that, she dove under the waves and waited for the rest of the gang to join her. Peach and Jacques were already there, staring up at the dock with impatient eyes, also expecting the others to swim into the big blue waters. And they did appear, one by one.

"It feels so great to be out here," Deb remarked. "I feel free!" She swam in a huge circle, gathering more speed with every lap. "I wish Flo could see this!" Lulu frowned as a dreadful thought occurred to her. The fish had spent a large portion of their time talking about what they were looking forward to in the ocean. What if they started complaining about everything they missed back in the tank? She realized that there would be one that wouldn't miss anything, except for the pelicans. He met up with the group and looked at them all with a bittersweet smile on his face.

"We are free," Gill said softly, letting the reality of the situation sink in. They had done it. This was real, not a fantasy.

"Where should we go now?" Peach asked from the bottom of the ocean ground, where he had landed after his bag had popped. Jacques was standing next to him, and Lulu realized that they would have to travel slowly to let those two keep up. Not that that mattered at all—they had all the time in the world to do whatever they wanted. And Lulu glanced at Deb, who nodded solemnly. They had to find Dory eventually and tell her about her past and reunite her with her family…if they could ever find them. But in the meantime—

"I know a place," Gill smirked. "It's got everything! Great view, great food, great fish, plenty of space…it's the best! I grew up there!" He sighed fondly, letting a wave of nostalgia rush over him. Lulu winked at the others, and they nodded. It seemed that they all knew where they were going next.

"You lead the way, Gill," Lulu said, gently taking hold of his fin—the broken one. He looked at her with surprise, but nodded and began to swim, with the others right behind him.

* * *

But even after the fish had gone, Alicia and Nigel remained on the dock, looking out at the horizon. "Think we'll ever see them again?" Alicia asked, watching the ripples in the water shrink and vanish, just like their fish friends. She hoped that Lulu and the others would be alright.

"Probably not for a while," Nigel said truthfully. "But I think that we will one of these days. I hope that none of those blokes will try to take a bite at them while they're out in the open." He coughed out a word that sounded suspiciously like Gerald's name. Alicia laughed. "Are you ready to go chase some seagulls?" He asked mischievously, and she snickered.

* * *

_Review, please! :)_


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